All IOCTA sponsored events, outings, and activities have no cost and are open to everyone. Please join us!
OCTA Calendar
Upcoming 2025 Events
April 19: Annual Byway Tour
Meet at 8:45 am at the Sinclair Truck Stop at the Eisenman Exit of I-84 east of Boise.
This is a caravan tour where everyone drives their own vehicle. We will follow the Oregon Trail from east of Mountain Home to Mayfield.
We will stop at Mountain Home at the Pilot Truck Stop to pick up more people, then leave there at 10:00 am. Mountain Home people should be at the truck stop by 9:45 am. There will be three stops in the morning with short walks.
We will have a potluck lunch at Sweetbriar Winery. The winery will provide hamburgers, hotdogs, and brats for $5 per person. Bring a side dish and/or dessert to share, your drinks, and a chair to sit on the lawn. Wine is available to sample and purchase.
After lunch, we will continue west on the Oregon Trail, usually ending at Mayfield about 4:00 pm. In the afternoon, we will visit the Canyon Creek stage station, a possible massacre site, rocks with emigrant names, and Mayfield. There will be one longer walk of about 1/4 mile up a slight hill. If you need to leave early, there are multiple places to return to the interstate.
This is a lot of fun, so don’t miss it!
May 15-17: Annual City of Rocks Activities and Spring Meeting
Thursday, May 15: Meet at the City of Rocks Visitor Center at noon.
We will drive to the horse camping area and walk into Circle Creek Canyon, where we will mark a section of the California Trail found last year. We will have dinner at Morey’s Steakhouse on the Snake River at 7:00 that evening. Both will be fun.
Friday, May 16: Meet at the southeast corner of the Burley Inn parking lot at 8:30 am.
We will drive east on I-84 and I-86 to the Raft River exit and turn south. We will then follow the California Trail from its start at Parting of the Ways on Raft River to Connor, west of Malta. This is an interesting trip with lots of gravel roads.
We will have dinner at 7:00 in the evening at El Caporal Mexican Restaurant in Burley. The restaurant is within walking distance of the Burley Inn and the Fairfield Inn and Suites.
Saturday, May 17: Spring Chapter Meeting, Perkins Restaurant, 10:00 am
The spring chapter meeting will begin at 10:00. We will review finances, preservation, upcoming activities, and talk about the 2027 convention. After lunch, we will tour the Burley Inn Convention Center, which will be the location of the 2027 OCTA convention.
Hotel Special Rates
Special rates are being arranged for the Fairfield Inn and the Burley Inn. These rates are much better than the normal rates, but are not yet finalized. You will need to mention IOCTA when making your reservations.
June 21: Annual Model A Tour
Meet at the Pilot Truck Stop at Exit 95 in Mountain Home at 8:45 am.
The Model A car club tour was so fun last year that the club has requested it be an annual event. It is very interesting to see a dozen antique cars traveling the path of the emigrants.
The tour will leave the Pilot Truck Stop in Mountain Home at 9:00 am. We will travel the portion of the byway traveled in the morning of the annual byway tour, and have a potluck lunch at Sweetbriar Winery. The winery will provide hamburgers, hotdogs, and brats for $5 per person. Bring a side dish and/or dessert to share, your drinks, and a chair to sit on the lawn. Wine is available to sample and purchase. We will then return to the Pilot Truck Stop.
Cadaver Video
Check out the video from last May when we had a cadaver dog outing to verify some suspected emigrant graves near Durkee, Oregon.
Recent Newsletters
Recent Meeting Minutes
February 26: Boise Schools Community Education class
Oregon Trail Wyoming to Fort Hall
March 5: Boise Schools Community Education class
Main Oregon Trail Back Country Byway
March 12: Boise Schools Community Education class
North Alternate Oregon Trail
October 12: Fall chapter meeting
Idaho Pizza Company at Overland and Orchard in Boise.
July 21-27: 2024 National Convention
Pendleton, OR
June 28: Cadaver dog grave verification
Jerry Eichhorst led a tour to several emigrant graves north of Mountain Home. A suspected new grave was discovered on the byway tour earlier this year.
June 27: Cadaver dog search for lost grave
Jerry Eichhorst led a tour on the California Trail byway to Goose Creek.
June 26: Drive over Granite Pass
James Dayley led a tour over Granite Pass on the California Trail.
June 1: Model A Car Club Oregon Trail Tour
Jerry Eichhorst will lead a tour of a Model A car club on the Oregon Trail from Bonneville Point to Canyon Creek. Details are available here.
May 16-17: Annual City of Rocks activities
Click here for more information.
May 18: Spring chapter meeting
Burley, ID
April 27: Annual byway tour
Click here for the flyer.
March 13-17: Fall chapter meeting
2024 National Symposium in El Paso, TX.
February-March: Community education classes
Boise, ID. More information is available at BoiseLearns.org
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.
September 30: Lander Road outing
We will 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.
March 1, 8, 15: Boise Community Education courses on the Oregon Trail in Idaho
More information is available here.