The city of Pocatello’s ongoing effort to make a recreational asset of the Portneuf River has spurred a local man to launch a new business that rents small watercraft.
Josh Randall, 35, of Pocatello, started Portneuf River Rentals about a month ago, renting small canoes and kayaks from his home. Randall will also provide shuttle service for groups that rent six or more watercraft.
Randall said business has been steady, and he plans to offer rentals through Labor Day.
“The demand is definitely higher than we expected initially,” Randall said. “We just got eight more (kayaks) today.”
Randall’s family has enjoyed floating rivers and lakes and saw an opportunity to to fill a need when the city began developing Portneuf River put-ins, signs marking their locations and maps of good floats a couple of years ago.
To promote floating on the underutilized stretches of river at both ends of the concrete channel through town, the city started a river festival in July 2019 called Poky Portneuf Paddle. The initial event drew more than 1,000 floaters, as well as about 500 people who attended a celebration of the river at Centennial Park. This year’s event was canceled due to COVID-19.
Randall said kayaks are expensive and hard to find, and many people have no place to store them. He rents larger kayaks for $25 per day and youth kayaks for $15 per day. Customers may place their orders on the Portneuf River Rentals Facebook page, or call or text a reservation at 208-339-6484. Randal, who also leases commercial building space, will then send them information about where to pick up their rented boats.
“People want to float. People want to stay local as kayaks and tubes become more available,” Randall said.
His family enjoys floating area rivers and lakes, and he said customers may also take their rentals to other bodies of water. But he anticipates floating will gain in popularity locally, especially next summer.
“This is just something we’re able to do in our own backyard,” Randall said. “It’s a local secret.”
His initial customers have been satisfied, and many have said they didn’t realize the Portneuf River was so big. His favorite stretch to float takes about three and a half hours, from Edson Fichter Nature Area to Centennial Park.
“It’s a very calm and relaxing float. That’s the biggest thing people are going to see with it,” Randall said.
Barrie’s Ski & Sports and the city also rent watercraft.
Lance Clark, the city’s outdoor supervisor, said the city rents tubes for $7 per day, and kayaks or stand-up paddle boards for $20 per day. This summer, Clark said the city has fielded fewer requests from groups interested in renting several large rafts for a float trip in another part of Idaho and far more requests for renting small watercraft to use on the Portneuf. Clark said most of the business has been locals making day trips, but he envisions customers from some surrounding areas will also start floating the Portneuf.
“I don’t think people from Preston are going to drive past Lava Hot Springs to get to Pocatello, but I think people from Idaho Falls might stop in Pocatello instead of (continuing) to Lava,” Clark said.
Hannah Sanger, science and environmental director for the city, said the city and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will partner during the next month on improving Portneuf River access points between Edson Fichter Nature Area and Cheyenne Avenue.
“There are a lot of jobs in recreation and it’s exciting to see local entrepreneurs making a go of renting kayaks for use on the Portneuf River,” Sanger said. “You look at Boise’s river and other communities that have developed their river into recreational resources and it starts with community members getting out on the water and develops there into dining and drinking establishments and other businesses relocating to be near the river because of all of these recreation resources.”
