McCall: Payette Lake, Mountain Trails & River Float

McCall is the most complete mountain town accessible from Boise in under two hours — a small city of 3,000 at 5,020 feet elevation on the south shore of Payette Lake, a 2,400-acre alpine lake in the Long Valley Ponderosa pine forest. The lake and the mountains surrounding it give McCall its character: summer kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and swimming directly from downtown; mountain biking and hiking on trails climbing into the West Mountains above town; and the Payette River below the lake for whitewater on the drive home. This is the Idaho the Treasure Valley residents escape to when they need elevation and cold water, and it earns its reputation fully.