Nestled between Boise’s historic North End and the Foothills in Hulls Gulch Reserve sits the Foothills Learning Center. The educational building (and its surrounding outdoor environment) is run by the Boise Parks and Recreation Department, and it opened to the public in 2005 with a mission to raise awareness and appreciation for our high desert environment. The Center’s main goal is to educate the public on how we can appreciate our natural surroundings and wildlife while living in an urban environment.

        The short drive up 8^th street, starting in bustling North End neighborhoods and ending on the dirt road through Hulls Gulch, reminds you how lucky we are to live in this urban-wildland interface.

        The Foothills Learning Center offers classes and events all year, from making recycled Christmas crafts during the holidays to springtime walking tours to see owls nesting. Any given day, though, the area is ripe with mountain bikers, joggers, and hikers sprouting out onto various trails into the Foothills, with many trails doable for little ones on foot or strapped to mama’s back. The easiest hike is right near the Center, and is lovely year-round. Native flora and fauna surround the place, interspersed with public artworks like Mark Baltes’ Aero Agoseris, a large-scale kinetic sculpture shaped like a native mountain dandelion, and Reham Aarti’s Cat’s Face Revival, made of steel, concrete, ceramic, and glass mosaic tile. Baltes’ work represents air, and Aarti’s piece represents fire.

        The best trail for young children is the Story Trail, a short and easy ¼-mile path on the grounds of the Foothills Learning Center. The staff has cleverly dissected a children’s book on nature, laminating each page and mounting each to a post every several yards. Kids of all ages will love to meander along the trail, eager to read the next pages of the story. There is a new story posted each month. The trail begins near the split rail fence in the northwest corner of the parking lot.

Amy Pence-Brown loves to read to her two daughters, especially outdoors. Her favorite story trail book thus far is Martin Waddell’s Owl Babies.