Summer Activities at Bogus Basin Mountain Resort
One of the best (and most popular) ways to beat the summer heat in the Treasure Valley is to head into the mountains! Drive north on Highway 55 on a Friday afternoon and you’ll see what I mean by most popular, LOL. It’s quite busy! We have a mountain playground right in our backyard, and you don’t even need to battle the other people on Highway 55 to get there.
With a base elevation of 5,800 feet and a summit elevation of nearly 8,000 feet, Bogus Basin Mountain Resort is well-known for its wintertime activities (skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, tubing) and started offering a variety of summer activities a few years ago. I absolutely love that the mountain is open year-round for fun and adventure!
A couple of weekends ago, Korri and I finally had the chance to visit Bogus Basin and check out their summer activities! We know their winter activities well (I grew up skiing at Bogus Basin, and Korri skied there regularly until his knee injury), but it was our first time checking it out in the summer. We wondered what took us so long—it was so nice to be away from the hustle (and heat) of the city! The best part is that it’s only 45 minutes from town!
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How to Spend a Summer Day at Bogus Basin
The main attraction at Bogus Basin are the many mountain biking trails snaking around the ski runs and in between the trees! We were there on the first day of mountain biking this season and about 90% of the people there were there to bike. It actually seems awesome—you ride the chair lift up to the top of the mountain and ride back down! Every other “chair” on the lift is a special bike rack, making it super easy to get your bike up the mountain. Bike and gear rentals are available.
We purchased a single scenic chair lift ride and headed up Morning Star Chair with the bikers to hike around! (Scenic lift rides are also available on the Deer Point Chair, but it was not running the day we visited.) When you buy a scenic lift ride, you can ride the lift back down to the base. It is a little bit freakier to ride the lift looking down the mountain the whole time, so keep that in mind if you’re afraid of heights/falling. (There’s a bar you can pull down that will help you feel safe!)
Once at the top of the Morning Star Chair, we checked out the map and decided to hike to the top of Shafer Butte, the highest point of Bogus Basin! The map marked which trails were open for bikers only and which were open for bikers, hikers, and horseback riders (you can haul your horses up!). We took a trail called Tempest up to the top—it was steep and featured lots of tiring switchbacks. Once at the top, we wandered around the Pine Creek Chair lift (not operating during the summer) and the Shafer Butte Overlook (a fire lookout). The views of the mountains in all directions as well as Boise in the distance were worth the hike up! We ended up taking an easier trail back down called Packing Trail, which met up with Lodge Cat Road.
If you’re into disc golf, there’s a course open to the public on the backside of Bogus near Bitterroot! Be sure to bring your own discs.
The most popular summer activity at Bogus Basin besides the mountain biking is the Glade Runner Mountain Coaster—Idaho’s only mountain coaster! Mountain coasters are REALLY fun. They fit up to 2 people, and the driver is able to control the speed on the way down, so you can go as fast or as slow as you want! We only had time for one ride on the coaster. At the time, I felt like I was going really fast on the way down but when I watch video back it seems like I’m barely moving. Haha! The track is over 4,000 feet long and meanders through the trees below the Morning Star lift. There’s even a couple of fun loops!
There are many other activities available for kids (and possibly adults too!): tubing, rock climbing, and bungee trampoline. These activities are located at the base of the mountain in between the Deer Point Chair and Coach near the Bogus Creek Plaza. There’s a lot of open space on the lawn, so bring along your camp chairs and blankets and make a day of it! (Follow Bogus Basin on social media for information about summer events, like music festivals, yoga classes, and more!) Another fun activity for kids is near the Simplot Lodge as you walk in: panning for gold!
And in case you’re in need of some sustenance, grab a bite to eat at the Double R Ranch BBQ Smokehouse on the plaza. They offer burgers, sandwiches, salads, as well as snacks and treats. And yes, alcohol, too! (I was very disappointed to find out that they do not make fries!!! Bogus’s fries are my favorite lodge snack in the winter so I was surprised they didn’t offer any in the summer!) Korri and I each picked up an ice cream treat to eat on the plaza before heading back home.
VISIT BOGUS BASIN MOUNTAIN RESORT!
SUMMER OPERATING HOURS
Daily: 11 am – 7 pm
Limited Late Summer Operating Hours (starting August 16th)
Friday – Sunday: 11 am – 7 pm
Labor Day: 11 am – 7 pm
Limited Fall Operating Hours (starting September 7th)
Saturdays and Sundays: 11 am – 5 pm
TICKET PRICES
Unlimited day pass with scenic chair lift: $49 (adults 13+) or $39 (kids 3-12 years old)
Unlimited day pass with chair lift + bike park: $79 (adults) or $55 (kids)
Unlimited pass includes: mountain coaster, scenic lift, tubing, rock climbing, bungee trampoline
HOW TO GET TO BOGUS BASIN
From downtown Boise, navigate to Harrison Boulevard, head north, and continue north on Bogus Basin Road. Follow that road until get you get to the resort—it’s that easy! Do note that the road is full of switchbacks.
HELPFUL LINKS
Operating Hours | Ticket Prices | Trail Maps | Events