Hours of Daylight – 15:21

One of the popular pastimes here in Boise, i had heard, was tubing down the Boise river. However all i ever heard was "tubing down the river is great fun." Not once did any of the people speaking take a moment to explain how one goes about tubing down the river.

"Where do you put in?" i asked.

"Oh, i went so long ago i don’t remember."

I tried another person who’d recommended an afternoon on a tube in the river.

"Can you rent tubes? And if so, where do you put in?"

"Oh, i’ve never actually gone tubing, i’ve just heard it’s fun."

Okaaaaay, moving on now…..

Back in New York up in the Catskill mountains there are several small rivers well suited for tubing. The most popular is the Esopus. I pronouce that EEE-soap-us, but i’ve heard it said e-sopus, too. The river winds past the too, too, cute town of Phonecia home of "the town tinker" the oldest of the rent-a-tube places. The phenomenon of tubing was mentioned in the late Spaulding Gray’s monologue "The Terrors of Pleasure" in which, among other things, he describes what he went through buying a small house in the Catskills. At one point he’s warned about "the tubers" and he and his then girlfriend venture down to the banks of the Esopus to see what’s there. While gazing out at the river Renee spies an unopened can of Bud floating down the river near shore. She picks it up, pops it, and chugs the can in one go. They discuss whether or not they should try to sell a commercial idea to Budweiser.

Tubing is also popular on the Apple river in western Wisconsin. There are several outfits that will rent you a tube, haul you upriver in a dilapidated schoolbus and set you a-float on your way back down to the park/campground from whence you started. While i’ve never been tubing on the Apple river i’ve heard some pretty amazing stories from folks who have made the trip. Lots of beer, lots of bathing suits gone missing… sometimes things get a bit ugly and stories wind up on the nightly news.

Anyway, that wordy introduction is my way of pointing out that "tubers" are not exactly the "leave no trace" kind of outdoors people.

But i’d heard so much about tubing on the Boise i felt compelled to investigate, so yesterday i got on my bicycle, rode down to the river, and headed upstream in search of the put in.

Well, to keep a short story short, after winding my way up the Boise Parks Greenbelt – a modest, but well constructed bicycle/foot path that crosses downtown on both banks of the river – I found the source of the tubes! The put in is just below one of the many small dams about four or five miles east of downtown. And what a put in it is! It is a pleasant park with restrooms and ample parking, but the best part is right by the river is a largish building that must house a very largish air compressor. Because coming out of the building and up out of the ground are dozens of hoses one can use to inflate the vast assortment of floating apparati. This was too much fun! I parked by a tree and watched as dozens of people inflated all manner of floaty things. Some used tubes, some used those inflatable things you can two behind your ski boat. One group had a GIANT inflatable round raft that had to be 12 feet in diameter.

Two women caught my eye. They were either twins or two friends who happened to look and dress very similarly. Sure, i liked watching them in their matching black bikinis, but what i really liked was their boat. Rather than one of the many goofy colored cheap looking boats they had this nifty olive and black sporty little inflatable that had a lifeline all around the gunwale, looked well made, had extra air chambers along the outside bottom edge (for increased stability and to better hold the hull shape), and besides it looked cool. I watched them get in and head downstream then quickly got back on my bike and cranked to where i guessed the take out point should be.

Sure enough i found the take out point (within walking distance of our house). The only secret yet to figure out is how the do the white busses work (they seem to be some kind of shuttle).

Once home i googled the manufacturer of the nifty little inflatable, found it for $78, and promptly ordered one. It should be here on Friday… just in time for a weekend of floaty trips!