TRIPS

Mike Choules - Trip Chair

All field trips are open to everyone. You do not need to be registered with the convention/congress to participate.

Registration will not be open for the first two field trips so information on where to pick up your tickets and when and where to meet will be provided in your registration confirmation.

Half-Day Trips: 

Field Trip #1 - Abandoned Cement Plant - Lime, Oregon. Tuesday July 10th. Leave 8:00 am and return by 12:00 noon. This is approximately 84 miles from the hotel with a driving time of about 1.5 hours. Cost is $15.00 for those taking the air conditioned motor coach or free to those that wish to find their own transportation. This location was once a working cement mining and processing plant. Quite a few years ago the plant was moved to a new location and this site was left to crumble and decay. A lot of the machinery, tools, furniture, etc, were left behind. Walls have crumbled, wood has decayed, and nature has started to reclaim many areas. All this combines to provide the photographer with opportunities for some truly unique images. Mike Choules will be your trip leader. Click here to see some images (coming soon).

Field Trip #2 - Idaho City, Idaho. Tuesday July 10th. Leave at 1:30 pm and return by 5:00 pm. This is approximately 45 miles from the hotel with a driving time of about 1.0 hours. Cost is $10.00 for those taking the air conditioned motor coach or free to those that wish to find their own transportation. Idaho City is an old west gold mining town, but has become quite "touristy". However, there are great places for shooting images such as the old cemetery, mining museum, and main street with its original western buildings and saloons. We might even be able to stage an old west shoot-out. Mike Choules will be your trip leader. Click here to see some images (coming soon). Click here to visit the Idaho City web site.

Field Trip #3 - Bruneau Sand Dunes Sate Park, Idaho. Wednesday July 11th. Leave at 6:00 am and return by 12:00 noon. This is approximately 62  miles from the hotel with a driving time of about 1.4 hours. Cost is $12.00 for those taking the air conditioned motor coach or $4.00 per vehicle to those that wish to find their own transportation. At 470 feet the dunes here are the tallest free-standing in North America. Because of their orientation and the rising of the sun we will need to leave early enough to get the best morning light for great images. In addition to the dunes there are small lakes, wildlife, and desert plants to photograph. If you wish to climb the dunes you will need to be in moderately good physical condition and carry plenty of drinking water (provided). Mike Choules will be your trip leader. Click here to see some images (coming soon). Click here to visit the Dunes web site.

Field Trip #4 - Old Idaho Penitentiary and Botanical Gardens - Boise, Idaho. Thursday July 12th. Leave at 8:00 am and return by 12:00 noon. This is approximately 2.3 miles from the hotel with a driving time of about 10 minutes. Cost is $15.00 and includes a ride on the Boise Tour Train and entrance to both the Old State Penitentiary and Museum and the Idaho Botanical Gardens. For those wishing to provide their own transportation the entrance fee to the Old Pen and the Gardens is $4.00 each. The Old Penitentiary was built in 1870 and in use until 1973. The botanical gardens are new and undergoing constant expansion. One of the new features is a Lewis and Clark native plant garden. Mike Choules will be your trip leader. Click here to see some images of the Old Pen and click here to see some images of the Botanical Gardens (coming soon). Click here to visit the Old Pen web site and click here to visit the Botanical Garden web site.

Full Day Trips:

Field Trip #5 - Payette River, Idaho. Monday July 16th. Cost is $75.00 for Option A (train ride and dinner only) and $100.00 for Option B (train ride, raft trips, and dinner). This will be an all day trip that leaves at 10:30 and returns in the early evening. It will include a motor coach ride from the hotel to a train station where you will board the Thunder Mountain Express for a ride up the scenic Payette River canyon. At the end of the ride you will depart the train and board inflatable rafts for a trip back down the waters of the Payette River. This is an easy trip suitable for kids as young as four years old but will provide enough rapids to make it exciting. At the end of the raft trip you will board the motor coach for a short trip to Banks where a full gourmet dinner will be served. Dinner will be tossed green salad, Idaho red potatoes with bacon bits, honey glazed carrots and peapods, top sirloin steak, walnut chicken breast, assorted gourmet desserts. After dinner the motor coach will return you to the hotel. For those that do not wish to participate in the raft trip you may remain on the train for a return trip and meet up with the rafters for dinner and the return to the hotel. David Kesner will be your trip leader. Click here to see some images of the train ride and raft trip (coming soon). Click here to visit the Thunder Mountain Express site. Click here to visit the Cascade Raft Company site.

Field Trip #6 - Sawtooth Lake, Idaho. Tuesday July 17th. Leave at 6:00 am and return by 10:00 pm. Cost for this trip will be $30.00. IMPORTANT - This will be a moderately strenuous hike of 9.6 miles roundtrip with an elevation gain of 1,720 feet to a high point of 8,340 feet into the wilderness of Idaho which means that once on the trail there will be no facilities of any kind for the duration of the trip. You will need to be in fairly good physical shape and be totally self-sufficient including personal items such as toilet paper (no bathrooms or even an outhouse). This is approximately 132 miles from the hotel with a driving time of about 3.0 hours. Sawtooth Lake is the largest lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness. Mt. Reagan rises at the south end of the lake. The trail is well maintained and the grade is gradual. The first half an hour you walk through lodge pole pines. After that, you have mountain peaks and ridges surrounding you all the way to the lake. About 2/3rds of the way to Sawtooth Lake is Alpine Lake. This offers fine views of Alpine Peak and the Stanley Basin. You can see the White Cloud Mountains from here. For those who would rather not hike all the way to Sawtooth Lake you can stop here and wait for the rest of the group to return. With several leaders and helpers the group can split up into different levels of physical fitness to proceed at their own pace, however no one can be hiking by themselves - all groups must have a leader or helper with them at all times. You will also need to provide your own backpack which needs to include a jacket, rain gear, plenty of water (provided), toilet paper, and a lunch (on your own, a group order could be made the day before for those that wish). As an option for those who do not wish to hike to either lake you can wander around Stanley Lake and the Redfish Lodge. Dan and Georgeanne Smith will be your trip leaders with help from Jan Burandt and Kathy Day. You will be responsible for your own dinner on this trip as a definite time cannot be planned due to the nature of the hike and individual’s ability to complete it. The decision on where to eat will be made by the trip leaders at that time. Click here to see some images (coming soon). Click here to visit a web site on the Sawtooth Lake hike. Click here to visit the Redfish Lodge web site.