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Road Dispatch Archives
Road Dispatch 1- Port Aransas, Texas
Road Dispatch 2 - Virginia City, Nevada
Road Dispatch 3 - LBJ Wildflower Center
Road Dispatch 4 - Garden of the Gods
Road Dispatch 5 - LBJ National Historical Park
Road Dispatch 6 - Donner
Road Dispatch 7 - Southeast Texas

We all dream of it while we work, play, dream, daydream, even drive...to work. We want to travel, get out on the road or hop into a plane or ship or canoe. To see the world, to experience the beauty and mystery and excitement all around us. But, at GeographicWest we hope you can take that trip with us. Through words and pictures, we would like you go on the road with us, to interesting, exciting, relaxing and even magical places. This series of Road Dispatches will be made available to you one per month, maybe sooner. We too want to get out on the road...let's go.

--Donner Summit, Interstate 80, viewing deep into the surrounding forest at elevation 7,227 feet. After a heavy Sierra snowstorm chains on the I-80 most definitely needed. No movement beyond the tree line and only the sounds of silence as snow sucks all noise from the still atmosphere. Highest elevation at marker N 39° 20.482 W 120° 20.391…where the Donner Party passed and where some died.

GeographicWest Road Dispatch Number 6

Donner
November, 2009

TRUCKEE, CALIFORNIA – The Donner Pass, Donner Lake, Donner Memorial State Park, are all at high mountain elevation. You’ll find crisp air, warm sun and deep azure sky in the summer. In the winter brutally cold temperatures, deep snow, and sometimes impossible impassible roadways will mark your way. Million dollars homes, shacks, dead-end trails and maintained State Park hiking routes are scattered throughout. And quiet, deafening quiet that masks secrets of a moment in time in the 1840’s when some of the 87 members in the Donner Party resorted to cannibalism to survive a winter on their way to the golden and green valleys of the nirvana known as California.

You can visit the exact spot where all the drama unfolded, at Donner Memorial State Park. There is a small Visitor Center, the Emigrant Trail Museum, and a well kept tail past marked points of interest. You will see beautiful forest setting and site markers where the Party lived…and died. First a bit of historical background.
The basic facts: 87 people let by the families of George Donner and the Reeds, set out from Springfield, Illinois with oxen and 23 wagons to HEAD WEST.

California fever was in the air and lure to California was strong. Difficulties slowed their progress until they got stuck in what is now known as the Donner Pass, just above Donner Lake. The I-80 summit at Donner Pass is at 7,227 feet in elevation.

The entire party of men, women and children arrived at that spot on October 29, 1846. Their route, the Truckee Pass Emigrant Road, was buried under 22 feet of snow. The party decided to winter at that location near Alder Creek. The Graves cabin and the Murphy cabin, built hurriedly by those two families, and the Donner tent site were located on and near the creek. Several families moved a few miles further west toward Donner Lake.

That winter was unforgiving, during their time at their Sierra Nevada mountain winter camp until the last survivor reached Sutter’s Fort on April 29th, 39 died and 48 survived, cannibalism was admitted and used as a survival technique. Members of the Donner Party had resorted to eating the dead flesh of their fallen companions.

The site of the Donner Memorial is located in the Donner Memorial State Park. There is adequate space for day and overnight camping, although when we visited to research this article and take photographs the camps were closed for an outbreak of bubonic plague carried by the squirrels. That alone seemed to put a damper on the enthusiasm for visiting, we were careful to avoid the campsites on this road trip.

There is a palpable heaviness when you visit the site because of the tragedy that occurred there and the means of survival employed by some members of the Donner Party. The Emigrant Trail Museum offers a fascinating look at the manner of transport and the details of every day life as the migration west was sparked during the time of the Donner Party debacle.

A well-marked pathway takes you around the sites of the Donner Party encampment and Alder Creek. The peace and tranquility of the area as well as views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains is stunning. Include a trip down the hill for a few miles and take the circle route around Donner Lake. It is the pristine smaller cousin to nearby Lake Tahoe, another certain Road Dispatch to come.
But when you do go you can’t help but notice a sense of doom that penetrates the Donner Memorial. Some of the party did not survive; enough did to tell the story. It seems impossible to fathom the difficulties of travel in the 1840’s as compared to 75 mph on nearby Interstate 80, which even today can be quite a challenge to traverse in the dead of winter.

With a public boat ramp, fishing, hiking trails, camping, the Emigrant Trail Museum, there is quite a bit to do and enjoy in that corner of the Sierra Nevada.

Photolog:
Entrance to the Donner Memorial State Park. The Campground was closed due to a minor detail, Bubonic Plague.
Memorial statue is located near the entrance. It commemorates the 87 people who arrived at the winter campground and the 39 who died.
A must see to start your tour is the Emigrant Trail Museum, next to parking.
Many displays, information boards and artifacts are housed in the museum.
The trailhead for the tour of the encampment and beautiful Alder Creek. Obviously, no dogs/bicycles.
The well marked trail takes you deep into the forest. The quiet and beautiful will envelop, in winter the cold and blowing snow can kill you.
One of the marked habitation sites. The site numbers corresponds to the markings on the trail maps, available at the museum.
This plaque lists the names of all Donner Party members, so long ago and so far away. They were subjected to hardships and horror that is difficult to imagine.
A bench near the creek is located conveniently for rest and contemplation.
The idyllic Alder Creek. The creek gently sings to you as you walk along its shore.
The final bridge near the final leg of the path taking you back to the museum and the parking lot.
In early fall a dusting of snow has already begun the accumulation of deep snow sure to follow. An oar dipping into the lake, the warm fall sun on your back, and call of a red-tail hawk circling above your head. Doesn’t get much better than this.
You can fish, launch a boat, picnic, sightsee or just absorb the beautiful views at this public accessible pier, one of the money adjacent to South Shore Drive. Donner Lake, California is 5934.85 feet in elevation. Cute little chipmunk, with bubonic plague? Maybe not so cute, hunh?
	End Road Dispatch