/ L&C Travel/ Eastern Oregon: Wildflowers in the Elkhorn Mts. with Biologists Paulette Bierzychudek & Gary Reiness

Eastern Oregon: Wildflowers in the Elkhorn Mts. with Biologists Paulette Bierzychudek & Gary Reiness

Open gallery

August 6 - 10, 2025

Group Size : about 8 - 14 participants

Daily Hike distances: 5-8 miles a day and 500-1500’ elevation gain. Participants should be reliably fit and able to hike these distances and elevation gain without assistance.

Join a 5-day Wildflower & Food Focused Gourmet Campout in Eastern Oregon’s Elkhorn Range of the Blue Mountains. This is truly a special all-inclusive mule-supported trek through the Eastern Oregon backcountry. Over the course of 4 days learn about the ecology around you and the native wildflowers that color Oregon’s oldest mountains, I.D. plants and wildflowers found along the trail, and enjoy evening fireside ecology discussions over camp cocktails and gourmet cast-iron cooking.

Program Highlights

Start your adventure with a sunset dinner reception and native wildflower kickoff presentation in La Grande, Oregon. Overnight stay at local hotel.
Hike in style! Mules pack 30lbs of gear per person as you hike to “Glamp,” a fancy camp nestled deep in the backcountry with a private chef & professional naturalist guides.
Enjoy evening fire-side presentations on topics ranging from basic forest ecology to wildflower ID.
Dine on hyper-local gourmet meals, sip on craft signature cocktails, put your feet up, disconnect and enjoy a wide range of activities from fly fishing to star gazing.
Explore the Blue Mountain’s alpine lakes, trails, rivers, and peaks through the lens of two expert biologists.
This time of year we will see an abundant variety of wildflowers, and we are almost guaranteed to spot mountain goats.

Itinerary

After checking in to our hotel, enjoy a private transfer to our dinner location in La Grande, OR for a hosted dinner reception with your guides, and professors Paulette Bierzychudek & Gary Reiness.

Finish the evening with a native plant presentation by Paulette and Gary before returning to your hotel.

Enjoy breakfast and coffee at a local bakery at 8am. After a ~1.5 hour drive to the trailhead, meet our expert mule packer who packs in your personal gear, 30lbs / person. Step into the wilderness and leave the hustle of the city behind. “Glamp” lies 5.5 miles into the backcountry. Along the trail take ecology and wildflower breaks and enjoy a lunch of locally sourced charcuterie.

At camp your professional local guides turn into expert fun facilitators and chefs, serving hand crafted appetizers, cocktails, and gourmet campfire cooked meals, all sourced from hyper local ingredients.

During the day, explore nearby lakes on guided hikes with a focus on native plants, ecology, and wildflowers, try your hand at fly fishing, forage for wild edible plants, or relax at camp. It’s up to you.

Your guides will have planned activities every day. In the evening, enjoy fireside native plant presentations by Paulette and Gary with opportunities to ask questions and talk about what you saw throughout the day.

After your last delicious camp meal and bottomless coffee, pack up your gear to leave at camp for our mule packer to carry out for you. While it’s tempting to put your head down and hustle (like a horse to the barn), even your last day is a chance to deepen your experience in the wild and enjoy the stroll back to civilization. We will have a simple leftover charcuterie style lunch along the way.

Typically, groups reach the trailhead between 1-4PM, please plan flights & travel plans accordingly.

For those who would prefer not to drive back the evening of 8/10 additional hotel reservations in La Grande can be secured.

Salad

Cost

Total Cost for a Double is $2,695 per person, signing up as a pair, sharing a room in a boutique hotel as a couple in one bed, or as two travelers in a room with two beds. Tents are shared with two people with two single cots.
Total Cost for solo traveler is $2,895 signing up as a solo traveler in a single room at the boutique hotel. Tents are shared with two people with two single cots.
A 15% tip for our guides has been included in the program fee.
All travelers are encourage to purchase Traveler’s Insurance.

Sign-up Today

If you would like to reserve a spot please email Andrew McPheeters, Associate Vice President, Community Education & Travel Programs at: mcpheete@lclark.edu

Please indicate your name, your travel partner’s name (or indicate traveling solo), birthdate, and any food, health, or mobility challenges. We will send you a payment link (you can pay via bank transfer with no fee, or credit card or PayPal with a fee). Payment in full required within 5 days of receiving the link.

Note: All participants should be reliably fit and able to make the hike into the back-country without assistance. If you have and health or mobility issues please consult your physician. Dan Sizer, our lead Trek guide is available for consultation.

There are only 10 spaces available in total.

Inclusions:

Local, professional, naturalist guides, camp chef & bartender
Mule packer to carry 30lbs of personal gear per person
Boutique hotel stay, day 1
All meals, beverages & cocktail package from dinner Day 1 to breakfast on Day 5 (a simple lunch of leftovers is included). This will include a hosted opening dinner reception.
All camp / hike gear- tents, cots, pads, chairs, group gear, kitchen, etc. We’ll send you a packing list upon booking. A note on tents: We sleep 2 people in one 4-person tent. This decreases our impact on the land.
Transportation to and from trailhead from our hotel in Eastern Oregon.
Professional photographer & download link to photos
Endless adventure, new friends, an experience of a lifetime

Price does not include

Transportation to Eastern Oregon
Any additional pre- or post-night accommodations in LaGrande
Traveler’s Insurance.

Academic Leaders

Paulette Bierzychudek & Gary Reiness, Biologists

Paulette and Gary are both retired Lewis & Clark biology professors. They have a lot of experience hiking and backpacking: not only in Eastern Oregon, but throughout the PNW as well as in Europe. Paulette spent her career studying the ecology, evolution, and conservation of plants and their pollinators. An experienced naturalist, she is knowledgeable not only about alpine wildflowers, but also about the insects, birds, and mammals that we’ll encounter. Gary is an avid birdwatcher and mammal-spotter as well. Paulette & Gary were the academic leads for an LC Travel group that traveled to Mexico to witness the Monarch Butterfly migration in 2023. In August of 2024 they were the professors onboard our Sail through the San Juan Islands.

Trek Leader

Dan Sizer ’16, Owner, Go Wild: American Adventures

I suppose, Go Wild: American Adventures really began my freshman year at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I told people I lived in Eastern Oregon and they said, “Where? Bend?” No, farther east, the real east, where there are more cows than people, where a traffic jam means waiting at a stop sign longer than 30 seconds. I began taking friends home, friends from the city, and many friends from overseas, from Tokyo, Japan, from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Every time it was the same- we stepped out of the car after the five hour drive from Portland, looked up at the starry sky, and mouths dropped open. The more I explored the mountains in my own backyard, the more I realized, yes, this is something worth sharing. And so, Go Wild was born.

Accommodations

We sleep 2 people in each 4-person Teepee style tent to decrease our impact on the land. Each tent comes equipped with cots, sleeping pads, sleeping bags, and pillows. “When Nature Calls”, as opposed to classic backpacking, we won’t be digging “cat-holes.” We’ve tried to make the experience as comfortable as possible with a framed pit toilet, privacy tent, and air fresheners :)

Campfire