Table Rock provides mountain bikers with a rare opportunity in the Boise foothills
Table Rock features one of the most iconic views of Boise and it's also one of the most popular hikes. However, if you can get your mountain bike to the top, the reward comes with a rocky technical ride back down.
The foothills in the Ridge to Rivers Trail System features so many good trails, but almost all of them are flowy single track that don't have many rocky features.
The black diamond trails including the Quarry Trail and Rock Island feature rock rolls, drops, jumps, hairpin turns, staircases and even wall rides.
"The wall rides are really fun too, I have never done a wall ride before so it was pretty scary," said Ben Courter, a biker that we met out on the trail. "I like the fact that the features are there if you want to do them, but you can still enjoy 95 percent of the trail without them."
Most of the features have a ride around, or riders can walk anything they are not comfortable with. I always walk one of the tight rocky staircases on the Quarry Trail.
"It's pretty technical at the top. Most of it is a blue, but the very top section has a couple of drops and the one kind of stair step section," said Courter. "I've ridden in Moab and Montana and that is up there when it comes to black and even double black tech, it's a good section to push yourself."
I'm a fan of Rock Island and you don't need to ride all the way to the top of Table Rock to access it. This is one of the only trails where other trail users need to yield to mountain bikers until the final downhill section. It's standard etiquette on all other trails for downhill mountain bikers to yield to every other user group.
"I think it is a good trail to progress with the tech skills because I feel like the only other trail that has good tech is Bob's," said Courter.
The really good riders can do tricks and all sorts of cool stuff on the Table Rock tech. For me it's more of a challenge to find smooth route and not crash. However, just like Ben, I feel like this area of trails provides a good amount of variety.
"It is really well laid out, I think the trails are well done and there is a good variety of flow and tech," said Courter, who moved to Boise this spring. "I love it, I have biked all over the west coast and this is definitely up there with one of my favorite places to ride."
I unfortunately got a flat tire before I reached Rock Island, which is a good reminder to still bring a pump and repair kit, even on a short ride close to town. That way I wouldn't have had to walk down my favorite part of the ride.
