Dates: Tuesday through Saturday, July 8-12, 2008 

Transportation: Comfortable passenger van (group size will be 5-8 people, including the trip leader)

Accommodations: Comfortable rooms in various locations for each night, in the town of Chico, near Lassen Peak, the town of Burney, and the town of Mt. Shasta

Trip difficulty: None - we'll enjoy easy-paced walking to view the sights, or photograph right from the van. Most walks will be less than 1/4 mile.

On our journey to and from our primary locations, we'll have time to see and photograph Mount Shasta, which rises more than 14,000 feet above sea level, and Lassen Peak, which is considered to be a still active volcano. We'll try to catch it in reflection from Manzanita Lake, at the base of this 10,000+ foot behemoth. Additional locations will take us to the immense radio telescopes near Lassen Pake, to a series of waterfalls along the McCloud River and to the unusual, sponge-like McArthur-Burney Falls. Trip Leader: Dave Wyman's photographs have appeared in various magazines and books, and he has conducted photo tours since 1982. His first book, Backroads of Northern California, covers many of the areas we will visit. Dave has conducted photography tours and workshops for the Los Angeles Zoo, the Death Valley and Yosemite natural history associations, the Los Angeles and San Diego Natural History Museums and UCLA, and he created and directed the travel and nature photography program for the University of Southern California.

Camera Equipment: For those who have a keen interest in photography, this is the trip to bring it all along - wide angle lenses, telephotos, and filters. Digitial, 35mm and medium format cameras will all work well. If you have questions about which lenses to bring, feel free to contact Dave Wyman. The trip leader will bring along a laptop and participants with digital cameras may wish to bring along their own computers. If we're still awake at the end of the day, we'll try to look at photographs made during the trip on our computers. Backup media for digital photographs: Consider bringing along some CDs (Dave can transfer files and burn photos, time permitting), so that you have a backup of your digital photos. Feel free to bring a laptop (but you'll have to carry it), digital wallet, etc. CF and SD Cards: Have enough space to store at least a day's worth of photographs (which could run into the hundreds).

Batteries: Participants need enough battery power to make it through a day. Consider bringing an extra battery; don't forget the charger. Plan to recharge batteries at night. While we'll have the ability to charge a few batteries at a time in our vehicles, this should not be the favored method.

Additional: Two filters for aficionados: the polarizer and a graduated graduated neutral density filter (digital and film cameras); an 81A or 81B warming filter will allow you to keep a blue tone out of your photographs made in the shade or under cloudy skies (for film cameras). Tripod: for early morning and early evening photography, or for the sharpest possible photographs.

Film Considerations:
- Both Fuji and Kodak have excellent print films, such as Fujicolor and Kodacolor. A good, all-around choice of print film speed for this trip would be ISO 200-400.
- Slide films: Currently, Fujichrome films offer excellent color saturation combined with very fine grain. Kodak also makes excellent amateur and pro films.

Basic Itinerary: Arrive on Wednesday anytime during the day in the picturesque town of Chico, California, which sits at the base of where the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains come together. Dinner for the group at the Chico Brew Pub (and home to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). Slide show back at our motel after dinner, then time for bed. On Thursday, wake early for a photography session at the Honey Run Road Covered Bridge. Travel up to breakfast in the town of Paradise, California, which sits in a pine forest atop layers of Cascade Range lava. Continue into the Feather River Canyon, and visit the remains of a pioneer community tucked into a side canyon. Lunch in the mountain town of Quincy, California. Continue through forested territory to Lake Almanor, before ending the day at our accommodations adjacent to Childs Meadow, with sweeping views of the mountains and a chance to photograph a few old barns. On Friday, we'll make a leisurely tour of Lassen Peak, climbing up and over it's flanks on Highway 89, dropping down the other side to explore a variety of vistas, a pair of massive radio telescope dishes, and, 20,000 year-old lave tube. We'll end the day in the little town of Burney. On Saturday, the day will commence with a visit to unusual McArthur-Burney Falls, where water oozes out of a porous lava cliff. In the afternoon, we'll reach the town of McCloud, where we will visit the McCloud Railway yards and then board the dinner train for a relaxing end to the day. On Sunday, we'll photograph areas around Mt. Shasta, and make the trip back to Chico, stopping in the town of Redding to photograph the "Sundial Bridge," which spans the Sacramento. After additional stops, including a monastery that sits on the grounds of the old Leland Stanford property, we'll reach Chico for a final evening and the end of the trip.

What Will be Provided: - Ground transportation by comfortable passenger van - Accommodations in a variety of locations - Entrance fees - Guided photo walks - Group dinner - Dinner train excursion - Group dinner first and last nights - AC chargers that can charge camera batteries, laptop batteries, etc, on the road What You Need To Bring: - Clothes for warm and cool conditions, including comfortable walking shoes - Money for meals - Small to medium sized suitcase, camera bag and/or purse - Tripod (optional, recommended) - Transportation to our meeting point in Chico, CA (Note: those coming from southern California are invited to join the trip leader in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, and make the drive to Chico in the group van - passengers will split the cost of gas).

CF and SD Cards: Have enough space to store at least a day's worth of photographs (which could run into the hundreds). Batteries: Participants need enough battery power to make it through a day. Consider bringing an extra battery; don't forget the charger for digital cameras. Plan to recharge batteries at night. While we'll have the ability to charge a few batteries at a time in our vehicles, this should not be the favored method. Two filters for aficionados: the polarizer and a graduated graduated neutral density filter (digital and film cameras); an 81A or 81B warming filter that will allow you to keep a blue tone out of your photographs made in the shade or under cloudy skies (for film cameras). Film Considerations: - Both Fuji and Kodak have excellent print films, such as Fujicolor and Kodacolor. A good, all-around choice of print film speed for this trip would be ISO 200-400. - Slide films: Currently, Fujichrome films offer excellent color saturation combined with very fine grain. Fuji's Sensia is a good film, as is the professional version, Provia, and Velvia, which is fine-grained and higher in contrast. Kodak also makes excellent amateur and pro films.

Basic Itinerary: Arrive on Tuesday anytime during the day in the picturesque town of Chico, California, which sits at the base of the junction of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains. Dinner for the group at the Chico Brew Pub (and home to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). Slide show back at our motel after dinner, then time for bed. On Wednesday wake early for a photography session at the Honey Run Road Covered Bridge. Travel up to breakfast in the town of Paradise, California, which sits in a pine forest atop layers of Cascade Range lava. Continue into the Feather River Canyon, and visit the remains of a pioneer community tucked into a side canyon. Lunch in the mountain town of Quincy, California. Continue through forested territory to Lake Almanor, before ending the day at our accommodations adjacent to Childs Meadow, with sweeping views of the mountains and a chance to photograph a few old barns. Time permitting, we'll photograph late light over Lassen Peak. On Thursday, we'll make a leisurely tour of the Lassen Peak are, climbing up and over it's flanks on Highway 89, dropping down the other side to explore a variety of vistas, a pair of massive radio telescope dishes, and a 20,000 year-old lava tube. We'll end the day in the little town of Burney. On Friday, the day will commence with a visit to unusual McArthur-Burney Falls, where water oozes out of a porous lava cliff. In the afternoon, we'll reach the town of McCloud, where we will visit the McCloud Railway yards and then board the dinner train for a relaxing end to the day. On Saturday, we'll photograph areas around Mt. Shasta, including the unusual Veterans Memorial sculpture garden. We'll stop in the town of Redding to photograph the "Sundial Bridge," which spans the Sacramento River. After additional stops, including a monastery that sits on the grounds of the old Leland Stanford property, we'll reach Chico for a final evening, dinner together, and the end of the trip.

When you send payment:      We'll send back a receipt and any additional information about the trip.

Cancellations: $200 cancellation penalty, unless another participant takes your place, in which case there will be a $25 processing fee. Cancellation on or after June 25 will incur a full penalty, unless another person takes your place, with a $25 processing fee


If you have more questions, call Dave at 323 377-7565, or send him e-mail at  davewyman@imountainman.com.