Join Jefferson scholar and author Clay Jenkinson in exploring the less-traveled reaches of the Lewis & Clark Trail in Montana and Idaho. On this exclusive adventure, we hike, canoe, swim, sing, tell stories, explore historic sites, gaze at the stars, sit around bonfires, and learn about the most important exploration party in American history.

Learn more.

Join Jefferson scholar and author Clay Jenkinson in exploring the less-traveled reaches of the Lewis & Clark Trail in Montana and Idaho. On this exclusive adventure, we hike, canoe, swim, sing, tell stories, explore historic sites, gaze at the stars, sit around bonfires, and learn about the most important exploration party in American history.

Learn more.

Steinbeck's California
March 14-20, 2022
see the full itinerary

February 4-12, 2022: Cuba Historical Cultural Tour, click here for details

July 23-31, 2021: River of No Return Cultural Tour, Salmon River, ID, click here for details

July 11 – 20, 2021
more details

Join Jefferson scholar and author Clay Jenkinson in exploring the less-traveled reaches of the Lewis & Clark Trail in Montana and Idaho. On this exclusive adventure, we hike, canoe, swim, sing, tell stories, explore historic sites, gaze at the stars, sit around bonfires, and learn about the most important exploration party in American history.

July 24 – August 2, 2020
https://jeffersonhour.com/lct

Join Jefferson scholar and author Clay Jenkinson in exploring the less-traveled reaches of the Lewis & Clark Trail in Montana and Idaho. On this exclusive adventure, we hike, canoe, swim, sing, tell stories, explore historic sites, gaze at the stars, sit around bonfires, and learn about the most important exploration party in American history.

February 7-15, 2020

Historical Cuba Tour

Our Cuban-American History Tour covers more than 500 miles and 500 years of history. With historian Clay Jenkinson and a select group of English-speaking Cuban guides, you will experience first-hand the history and culture of this incredible island.

October 27 - November 2, 2019

Join Clay Jenkinson on a guided tour through Jefferson’s France. After exploring Jefferson’s Paris, we’ll visit Bordeaux, where Jefferson devised a wine classification system that was adopted by the region fifty years later. Enjoy tastings at vineyards with a family memory of Jefferson’s visit in 1787 and a visit to Montaigne’s castle, where the first great essays of modern history were written. Then to Nimes to see the Maison Quarree, what Jefferson called “the most precious morsel of antiguity,” the building that served as the model for the new state capitol in Richmond. We’ll visit Arles for time among Roman antiquities and make a brief stop at Aix-en-Provence, where Jefferson took the mineral waters to ease the pain in his wrist, damaged in a romantic escapade with Maria Cosway in Paris.

Learn more.

October 17-26, 2019

Join Clay Jenkinson on a guided tour through Jefferson’s France. After exploring Jefferson’s Paris, we’ll visit Bordeaux, where Jefferson devised a wine classification system that was adopted by the region fifty years later. Enjoy tastings at vineyards with a family memory of Jefferson’s visit in 1787 and a visit to Montaigne’s castle, where the first great essays of modern history were written. Then to Nimes to see the Maison Quarree, what Jefferson called “the most precious morsel of antiguity,” the building that served as the model for the new state capitol in Richmond. We’ll visit Arles for time among Roman antiquities and make a brief stop at Aix-en-Provence, where Jefferson took the mineral waters to ease the pain in his wrist, damaged in a romantic escapade with Maria Cosway in Paris.

Learn more.

March 2-8, 2019

Learn more.

July 18-27 • Great Falls & Missoula, MT

This is the trip that never gets old. It will be Clay's 12th time up the Wendover Death March (which proves that anyone can do it). We'll spend three days on the White Cliffs section of the Missouri River, then a night in a wonderful historic hotel in Fort Benton, then four days on the Lolo Trail in the footsteps of Lewis & Clark on the most pristine portion of the entire national Lewis & Clark Trail. The “camping” is courtesy of our excellent outfitter (they set up your tent, feed you at tables with cloths and napkins, strike the camp, and provide excellent wine and unlimited quantities of beer). We hike, canoe, stroll, sing, tell stories, gaze at historic sites, sit around bonfires, and learn just the right amount about the most important exploration in American history.

Learn more and view the full itinerary.

This retreat is hosted by Odyssey Tours with Clay Jenkinson.

Becky Cawley • telephone: (208) 791-8721 • bek@odytours.net

March 4-10 • Pacific Grove, CA

This week-long journey is a lovely mix of talk about Steinbeck’s books and exploration of the California that inspired some of his best work. Spirit of place mattered to Steinbeck. The Gabilan and St. Lucia Mountains, the Salinas River Valley, Salinas itself, Pacific Grove, Carmel, and Monterey are as important as the characters in his fiction. He often pauses to describe the landscape of his youth. And he had a love affair with the great row of canneries in Monterey that gave him his closest friendship in life—with Ed Ricketts—and the setting for some of his most enchanting fiction.

Learn more and view the full itinerary.

This retreat is hosted by Odyssey Tours with Clay Jenkinson.

Becky Cawley • telephone: (208) 791-8721 • bek@odytours.net

If you only venture onto the Lewis & Clark Trail once, this “Classic Tour” is the one you don’t want to miss! Enjoy the comforts of the twenty-first century, as you float, hike and ride deep into remote, beautiful, American landscapes. Sit back and relax as scholar Clay Jenkinson illuminates the past to the present, matching humanities to the landscape, while you peer over the next ridge beyond. You will visit several key places specific to the journals of Lewis and Clark, and Prince Maximilian—two great American epic adventures! For more information contact us at our website or call Becky Cawley at 208-791-8721.