4-Wheeling Where the Pioneers Once Trod

Get your four-wheel-drive into gear on a 250-mile guided tour of the 1849 wagon route used by thousands of Gold Rush pioneers. The route begins from Imlay, Nev. (an old mining town), to Alturas, Calif. The three-day tour leaves July 20.

Led by experienced guides, participants will see desert and mountain scenery, and make stops at historical spots such as places where pioneer names are carved on rocks and wheel tracks from covered wagons can be seen. Members will camp two nights. One night is spent at Soldier Meadows, a facility on the site of a historic fort and hot springs, and the other is spent at Stevens Camp. The tour is insured and operated under a Bureau of Land Management recreational permit. It is limited to 25 vehicles.

Cost: $250 per person, including all meals. Participants need to bring a tent and sleeping bag and snacks. Transportation to Mill City is not included. Contact: Ed Dunkley, 9401 Golden Drive, Orangevale, CA 95662; telephone (916) 988-4690; or Warner Anderson, 3750 Otto Way Auburn, CA 95602; tel. (916) 878-8833.

O Canada

Main Street Tours is offering a 14-day tour to Western Canada and the Canadian Rockies July 6-19. Participants tour Banff and Waterton Lakes National Parks with a local guide, ride a snow coach on the Athabasca Glacier at the Columbia Ice Fields, cruise on Waterton Lake across the international border, spend an evening at Butchart Gardens in Victoria and take in a full day at the Calgary Stampede with admission to the rodeo, chuck-wagon races and Western stage show. Among the meal stops included are the Banff Springs Hotel, the Chateau Lake Louise and Victoria’s Empress Hotel.

Cost: $1,295 per person, double occupancy, including motor-coach transportation, accommodations, tours and some meals. Not included: transportation to Canada. Contact: Main Street Tours, 1751 W. Torrance Blvd., Suite N, Torrance, CA 90501; tel. (310) 212-0791.

Medicinal Bolivia

Explore the culture and medicinal world of the Kallawayas, Bolivia’s medicine men, on two tours, July 3-12 and Oct. 18-27. Participants will visit the villages where they live and where their ancestors lived, and learn about the herbs and plants used to make antibiotics. The trip ends with a stay at a luxury spa overlooking Lake Titicaca, which is ringed by snowcapped summits.

Cost: $1,195 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, all meals and ground transportation. Not included: air fare to Bolivia. Contact: Myths and Mountains, P.O. Box 31, South Pomfret, VT 05067; tel. (802) 457-9367.

Germany and Friends

A 15-day tour to Germany with a taste of Austria, Italy and Switzerland leaves Sept. 24. Guests start with the Oktoberfest in Munich. After a two-night stay, the group will depart for Innsbruck, Austria, with an en-route visit to King Ludwig’s Linderhof Castle.

A two-night trip takes guests to northern Italy before returning to Germany and the Lake Constance region for four days staying at a four-star hotel facing the lake. From there members will be escorted to Lucerne and smaller towns in Switzerland. Guests then journey to the Mosel River area, visiting the 2,000-year-old town of Trier and sampling wine from the region. The last two days will be in Rudesheim, Germany, on the Rhine River.

Cost: $3,075 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, buffet breakfast daily, 12 dinners in Europe, admissions to all museums, activities and motor-coach transportation. The tour is escorted throughout. Contact: Jeannette Martin, Atlas Travel Service, tel. (800) 462-8004 or (310) 322-2235.

Churchill’s London

The Claremont Institute is offering a tour of the London area from Sept. 14 to 22 titled “In the Footsteps of Churchill.” The trip will be led by Institute President Larry Arnn, with briefings by historian and author, Sir Martin Gilbert, a Churchill biographer. Bruce Herschensohn, Institute Distinguished Fellow, will also accompany the tour. The group will visit key sites in Churchill’s life, including Chartwell, Blenheim Palace, Oxford, the Cabinet War Rooms, Westminster Palace, the House of Commons, Westminster Abbey and others. The trip will also feature special briefings by leading political figures in Great Britain. The focus of the discussions will be to understand how Churchill has affected the working of the world today. Ample time will be available for entertainment and cultural events.

Cost: $3,435 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, seven nights in London at the Churchill Intercontinental, five lunches and three dinners, local travel guide, airport transfer and sightseeing fees. Contact: Michael Warder, Claremont Institute, 250 W. 1st St., Suite 330, Claremont, CA 91711; tel. (909) 621-6825.

Northwest by West

Visit the City of Roses--Portland, Ore.--for three nights, departing July 22. Participants take a tour of the city, cruise for a day through the Columbia River Gorge to see its sheer cliffs and cascading waterfalls, and visit the coastal town of Astoria.

Cost: $696 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, airport transfers in Portland, three nights’ hotel accommodations, three breakfasts, one dinner and tours. Contact: Friendly Excursions at (8OO) 281-2199 (California only) or (800) 775-5018.

Scotland Highlands

An August walking tour of the Highlands and islands of Scotland begins Aug. 2 in Glasgow and ends Aug. 16. The first day will be spent seeing the city and resting. The next morning, guides pick up the group at the hotel to begin exploring the East Highland Way, one of Britain’s premier long-distance walking paths.

Day hikes are taken through mountain scenery, following the route first carved out by the British army to supply their forts against the Scots. Along the way, the group will visit Glencoe, cross the stark Rannoch Moor, hurdle the Devil’s Staircase, and (depending on weather) climb Ben Nevis, Scotland’s highest peak.

After Ben Nevis, the group will transfer to Scotland’s west side to walk along the rugged coastline. Day trips include the isles of Skye and Eigg. The trip ends with a return to Glasgow by train on the West Highland Line.

Accommodations will be in small hotels and inns, including the Kings House Hotel at Rannoch Moor (the spot on the map is named after the inn). Except for the first night in Glasgow, two or more nights are spent in each inn.

Cost: $2,750 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, baggage transfer, transportation within Scotland, guides and most meals. Transportation to and from Glasgow is not included. The group is limited to 15 participants. (Optional extension to Edinburgh Festival is available.)

Contact: Distant Lands, 62 S. Raymond Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105; tel. (818) 449-3220.

Focus on Yosemite

The largest waterfalls on the North American continent will lure photographers to Yosemite National Park for a camera tour, May 16-19.

Participants will photograph several of the park’s famous waterfalls, which, after last winter’s enormous snowfall, will gush near historic amounts of water into Yosemite Valley and the Merced River. Participants will also have a chance to photograph wildflowers and scenic vistas.

Cost: $230 per person, including accommodations, guided field sessions and a farewell Sunday brunch at the historic Wawona Hotel. Contact: Image Quest Photography Tours, 1164 Alvira St., Los Angeles, CA 90035; tel. (213) 939-2819.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with travel agents or tour operators.