River Floating Season Begins Saturday

Is it true?! Is it time to break out the rafts, tubes and air mattresses? Have we avoided the latest Boise River Float season of all time?

...eh, not exactly.  The latest the Boise River opening in the last decade was July 15th, 2011 and with the river only expected to drop to 3,200 cfs by the end of the day on Friday, it looks like the 2017 float season will start even later. Safe floating conditions are at 1,500 cfs, while prime floating current is 1,250 cfs.

So you're probably wondering why I'm telling "river floating season" starts on Saturday, aren't you?  According to KTVB, Garden Valley and Crouch are inviting you up north for 4th of July weekend and the kickoff of Payette River floating season! The Middle Fork of the Payette is only floating at 800 cfs.

Never floated the Payette before? It's easy to get to the put in.  Idaho X-Sports in Garden Valley is renting tubes to floaters and offering a shuttle service to the Crouch Community Church where the river float starts.  The float lasts an hour to two hours and drops you off at Anderson Creek near the Crouch Rodeo Grounds.

The shuttle service from Idaho X-Sports costs $5.  If you need to rent a tube, you're able to do that at their location for $15.

As for floating in the Treasure Valley? If float season happens at all, we're looking at August as the start date.  It would be an extremely abbreviated float season as the Boise River closes on Labor Day weekend.