Parks, trails were packed last weekend in Boise and beyond. What about social distancing?
This past weekend, Boiseans hit the trails — hundreds of them, if not thousands.
It makes perfect sense. With businesses and schools closed and gatherings canceled, there was little else to do. Plus, mild temperatures and sunny skies made for great hiking weather.
“The nicer the weather, obviously the more people are going to be out,” Boise Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway said in a phone interview. “Everything is weather-contingent.”
But crowded parks and trails become a potential hazard when visitors can’t practice proper social distancing, guidelines that keep 6 feet of space between individuals in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus and COVID-19, the disease the virus causes.
“We absolutely do see that there are some issues in parks,” Holloway said Monday. “People are just congregating in packs of eight, nine, 10 people in one location.”
Trails were also packed.
“The lower (in elevation) you go, the more busy the trails are,” Holloway said. “The ones that are most close in are obviously the ones that are getting the most usage. What we’re seeing is … probably twice as much usage as we’ve seen all spring long.”
Boise’s Ridge to Rivers trail system sees crowds, traffic over weekend
Holloway said trails may have been “the busiest in the history of the trail system,” this past weekend, with newcomers and regular trail users flocking there.
Boisean Danica Meng lives near some of the Ridge to Rivers trails and said she noticed the influx of weekend traffic.
“They’ve been pretty busy the last few months in general … so I had an inkling they would be busy,” Meng said in a phone interview. “Sure enough, when I went down there, I didn’t even want to go near any of the big trailheads.”
Meng drove past Hulls Gulch, one of the more popular Ridge to Rivers locations that’s home to several trailheads. She said in just a few minutes at the site, she saw multiple groups congregating. She took videos of the packed parking lot and overflow onto 8th Street and shared them on Facebook and Instagram on Sunday.
“Dear Citizens of Boise,” she wrote, “if you were rolling your eyes at the images of people on the crowded beaches in Florida, then you know better than to contribute to that kind of situation here in Boise. Yes, our trails are an amazing resource, but please do not abuse the use of them for your ‘social distancing’. If trailheads are this crowded, then it is unlikely that people can be effectively social distancing. Turn around and go somewhere else — we have plenty of trails in and around Boise.”
In her post, Meng also urged people to recreate responsibly or stay home.
“I took the videos because I wanted to show people what’s going on,” Meng told the Statesman. “My husband’s an ER doctor, so I’m hearing firsthand what he’s hearing, and it’s terrifying. I don’t think people have any idea how serious it is, and people don’t think it affects them. They think it’s affecting someone else.”
Meng said she was able to find trails that were nearly empty this weekend. She biked along Crestline Trail to Sidewinder, looping back on Fat Tire and Freestone trails.
“There were maybe three people total on those trails, except for Crestline, which is always busy,” Meng said.
She said the trick was to go during off hours — she’s noticed trails seem more busy between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., so she went out at 6 p.m. Sunday.
“There’s a lot of room for people around Boise,” she said. “I think right now it’s important to put your desire to maybe go to a convenient trailhead, leave that behind and find something that’s going to spread you out more.”
Holloway also pointed trail users to less-popular spots.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be busy out there and we just need everybody to cooperate and be good citizens,” Holloway said, encouraging trail users to take Ridge to Rivers’ Happy Trails etiquette pledge.
Boise could close parks, trails
Holloway said while parks were busy this weekend, most people stayed off of playground equipment, which Mayor Lauren McLean closed on Saturday morning. He’s hopeful visitors will heed new signs that Parks and Rec staff added to parks Monday, which encourage social distancing, frequent hand washing and behaviors that prevent the spread of coronavirus.
However, Holloway said the city is prepared to take more drastic measures if the public doesn’t comply with isolation directives.
“The mayor made it very clear in her statement that if the public doesn’t adhere to that recommended 6-foot safe social distancing, there’s a possibility we could close different facilities or parts of parks or entire parks … including trailheads,” Holloway said.
He said that’s a last resort — education is the priority right now.
“We really want to pound that home to our public that it’s really important right now, not just to prevent the spread (of coronavirus) but to keep our parks open so people can get out in short durations of time and enjoy being outside,” Holloway added.
Last week, retired doctor and St. Luke’s Health System CEO David Pate told the Statesman it’s perfectly safe to spend time outdoors during the pandemic — provided people are social distancing. Holloway said there should be plenty of room for that in Boise.
“We believe we can safely accommodate all of our citizens so long as they follow those (guidelines),” he said. “It’s probably not going to get any less crowded — it might get more crowded before we are done.”
