OCTA Calendar

Upcoming Events

October 14: Fall chapter meeting
The fall chapter meeting will be held at 11:15 am at the Idaho Pizza Company restaurant at Overland and Orchard in Boise. The guest speaker will be John Hiler, Mountain Home area historian.

Recent 2023 Events

September 30: Lander Road outing
Details are being worked out with Gary Makey to follow the Lander Road on Forest Service and other roads from the Wyoming border to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation. This is a trek that the chapter might not have done before. It will likely require spending Friday night in Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Soda Springs, or Star Valley, Wyoming, in order to start early in the morning (about 9:00 am). The details and meeting location have not been finalized at this time.

September 25: BSU OSHER Class
Jerry Eichhorst will be teaching a class on the Oregon Trail in Idaho for the BSU OSHER program. If you are a member of OSHER you may have seen this course in their catalog. Contact BSU OSHER for more information. These classes usually sell out within a few days.

August 27: Byway Video outing
The OCTA video master, Richard Hunt, and Jerry Eichhorst will be filming a video of the Main Oregon Trail Back Country Byway. Other members are welcome to follow along if you want to see the entire byway or observe the video creation process.

August 26: Ground penetrating radar outing
A month ago, two cadaver dogs showed strong positive indications of human burials on a small knoll beside the location of a suspected massacre of a wagon train. GPR will be used to scan the top of the knoll to determine if something is indeed buried there.

2023 Convention: Gehring, NE

May 18-20: City of Rocks activities and spring chapter meeting
The annual spring outings with City of Rocks are tentatively scheduled for Thursday and Friday, May 18 and 19, with the spring chapter meeting on Saturday, May 20. Additional details will be available soon. We will be trying to get a reduced rate at the Fairfield Inn in Burley.

April 15: Annual spring byway tour with potluck lunch at Springbriar Winery
We will meet at 8:45am between the McDonalds and the Albertsons at Federal Way and Gowen Road. Then we'll caravan from east of Mountain Home to Boise along the Oregon Trail. Lunch at Sweetbrair Winery - $5 per person for burgers and brats. For the potluck, bring a side dish and/or dessert to share. Also bring your own water and drinks, a camera, warm clothing, etc. To RSVP, please sign up with Jerry at Boise Community Education courses, or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

March 1, 8, 15: Boise Community Education courses on the Oregon Trail in Idaho
More information is available here.

2022 Highlights

October 15: Fall Chapter Meeting
The fall chapter meeting will be held at the Sweetbriar Vineyard and Winery. The winery is located 8 miles north of Mountain Home on Highway 20. The meeting will start at 10:30 am. The winery will provide hamburgers and brats for lunch. Please bring your own drinks and a side dish or dessert to share. Wine will be available for purchase. After lunch we will explore the area along Rattlesnake Creek in search of emigrant graves, then drive east a few miles to reset concrete Oregon Trail posts which have fallen over. I am also trying to find a time to lead a tour of the Oregon Trail from Fort Boise to Farewell Bend. This route goes north out of Vale and across the desert on some very dusty roads.

October 1-2: Jeffrey's Route
We are working out the details for an outing on the Jeffreys Route for October 1 & 2. This will involve remarking part of the trail across the desert and visiting the trail on INL land. Details will follow soon.

August 28-September 3: OCTA Convention
The OCTA convention is in Casper, Wyoming. Details are available on the OCTA website.

May 14: Spring Chapter Meeting
Perkins Restaurant in Burley, Idaho, at 10:00am.

May 13: Granite Pass Tour
Meet at Subway near Burley Inn at 9:00am. Follow the California Trail up to Granite Pass then continue down the California Trail on the west side. This will be different than last year when we did not follow the CT down the west side but took the rough Vipont Mine Road instead. We hope to be able to get on the bluff above the Devil’s Grave descent and possibly explore routes down the hill.

May 12: California Trail exploration
Meet at City of Rocks visitor center at 12:00 noon. Metal detecting on private property under the direction of the COR archaeologist.

May 21: Cadaver dog possible grave searches
Meet at Weatherby Rest Area, I-84, 13 miles northwest of Huntington, Oregon, at 10:00am. Weatherby Rest Area is approximately 90 minutes from Boise. People coming from the west should meet at a large gravel parking lot just north of I-84 at the Durkee exit at 10:30am. We will use trained cadaver dogs to check a couple of suspected graves on the Oregon Trail near Durkee, Oregon, near the top of the Burnt River canyon. Durkee is 10 minutes from the Weatherby Rest Area. We will then return to the rest area for a lunch break before working the dogs on the Van Orman burial site near Huntington and another grave near Birch Creek. Check out the video here!

April 23: Annual Main Oregon Trail Back Country Byway Tour
Meet between Albertsons and McDonalds at Federal Way and Gowen Road at 8:45am. This year’s tour will be special with a lunch break at Rattlesnake Creek instead of the Pilot Truck Stop. More details are available here.