Outer Northeast Boise

Tucked inside the rolling foothills is Outer Northeast Boise, a picturesque mountain neighborhood sheltered from city noise. In valleys at the base of the seemingly endless, rolling Boise Foothills, you’ll see a collection of master-planned communities with tons of untouched green space and houses less than 30 years old. Boise natives and out-of-state transplants flock to the area for its stunning vistas, access to outdoor recreation and sense of community. Kids ride bikes to the general store and hold lemonade stands in their front yards.

Wake up to the buzz of hummingbirds and the sight of antelope grazing on the slopes in your backyard. Spend your evenings on the patio around your outdoor firepit, listening to the stunning stillness of the mountains, and slip into the jacuzzi when the temperature drops. Some streetscapes in Outer Northeast Boise have freshly built Traditional-style houses right next to each other, behind well-kept shrubs and front lawn gardens with stone accents. Other streets have large mansions with multi-acre properties and private shooting ranges. RV garages, swimming pools and well-paved sidewalks are also typical. Houses tend to cost between $584,000 and $2.7 million. “You’re paying for the beautiful views,” says Laura Trairatnobhas, Realtor with John L. Scott Real Estate and a Boise native. “You walk out the door and off you go into the foothills.”

Brand-new houses can go for $2 million, stone ranch-style homes can cost $1.3 million and one-story homes can go for $770,000. Even though its beautiful, living in the foothills does have its downsides, Trairatnobhas says. It’s extremely dry, so fires spread rapidly, and soil erosion can make some properties uninhabitable. Home insurance policies can be expensive. “If I were to help someone buy up there, I’d be saying ‘let’s get a structural engineer in here to sort things out,’” she says. “With some of the homes, you might say ‘I’m not sure I want to live here, even though the view is beautiful.’”

The neighborhood’s foothills location makes it synonymous with the outdoors. Put on your hiking shoes or hop on your mountain bike for a trip on the Spring Valley Creek trail, which follows a creek through the hills. Diehards will love Dry Creek Trail, a 14-mile hiking, biking and horseback riding pathway with an ironic name – in reality, the creek is rarely dry. Master-planned foothill communities like Hidden Springs and Avimor have shared neighborhood amenities, like paved walking pathways, swimming pools and basketball courts. Golfers will love the picturesque 18-hole Shadow Valley Golf Club, and equestrians will appreciate several nearby facilities for horse boarding. Ride your horse through a field with the mountains as a backdrop.

Outer Northeast Boise may be in the foothills, but all the amenities of modern life are nearby. In Hidden Springs, you’ll see a commercial center called the Mercantile, where you can start your day with a latte at Rooted Coffee Co., bring the kids to the public library in the afternoon and sip chardonnay at Hidden Springs Wine Bar in the evening. Supermarket shoppers will have to head out of the foothills to stock up at WinCo Foods, but when you run out of flour, you can always pick some up quickly at the general store. Each foothills community has a calendar of events. Residents of Avimor can decorate Christmas trees with their neighbors and cook their best chili for the community’s annual chili cookoff. Hidden Springs has movie nights on the village green and a Harvest Festival, with fall foods, pumpkin painting and tours of nearby farms. You’ll never be lonely or bored in Outer Northeast Boise.

Children in the Outer Northeast Boise can enroll in the Boise School District, the highly rated public school system serving Idaho’s capital. Some children living in the neighborhood will attend Hidden Springs Elementary School, which has an A-minus rating from Niche, and Hillside Junior High School, rated B-plus. After eighth grade, kids can attend Boise High School, considered the fifth-best high school in Idaho by U.S. News & World Report.

Outer Northeast Boise may be in the foothills, but it’s still close to the heart of the capital. Roads like State Highway 55, North Bogus Basin Road and North Pierce Park Lane take drivers out of the mountains. Downtown Boise is just 10 miles from Hidden Springs, and Meridian is 16 miles from the master-planned community. Outer Northeast Boise is where you can sit on your patio late at night and feel the energy of the foothills. You’ll kick back, exhale and think about how lucky you are to live in a place most people only see on postcards.

Written By

Laura Finaldi

Photography Contributed By

Chad Jackson