Tracy Salcedo - Best Easy Day Hikes Lake Tahoe

Tracy Salcedo-Chourr has written more than twenty FalconGuides to destinations in California and Colorado, including Hiking Lassen Volcanic National Park, Best Hikes Near RenoLake Tahoe, Best Hikes Near Sacramento, Exploring Californias Missions and Presidios, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Best Rail Trails California, and Best Easy Day Hikes guides to the San Francisco Bay Area, Lake Tahoe, Reno, Sacramento, Fresno, Boulder, Denver, and Aspen. She lives with her family in Californias Wine Country. Visit laughingwaterink.com for more.

Thanks to the following folks for their advice and help with the first edition of this guide: Mike St. Michel and Don Lane of the US Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit; Dave Nettle of Alpenglow Sports; Gisela Steiner of Tahoe Trail Trekkers; Bill Schneider; and editors David Lee, Charlene Patterson, and Erica Olsen.

Thanks to these folks for help and review of the second edition: Don Lane and Lindsay Gusses of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit; Mark Kimbrough, executive director of the Tahoe Rim Trail Association; Hal Paris and Pandora Bahlman of the Incline Village General Improvement District; Roger Adamson, park superintendent of the Tahoe City Public Utility District; Bill Houdyschell of the forestry division of the Tahoe Donner Association; Bill Champion of Lake TahoeNevada State Park; Dean Lutz, Jeff Wiley, and Susanne Jensen of Tahoe National Forest; and Jacqui Zink, park ranger with the US Army Corps of Engineers at Martis Creek Lake.

Thanks to these folks for their help with the third edition: Morgan Fessler of the Tahoe Rim Trail Association; Scott Elliott of the California State Parks, Sierra State Parks Foundation; Garrett Villanueva of the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit; Jacqui Zink of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

Thanks to these folks for everything: Julie Roth and Oliver Aslin, the Friedman/Rodman clan; the Salcedo clan; the Chourr clan; and my sons, Cruz, Jesse, and Penn.

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Lake Tahoe gets all the glory, but this satellite lake, also deep and blue, is traced by an interpretive trail that shines a spotlight on both the spectacular setting and the remarkable, disturbing history of the infamous Donner Pass.

Start: Parking lot for the picnic area near the gauging station. You can also start at the park visitor center.

Distance: 2.4 miles out and back

Hiking time: About 2 hours

Difficulty: Easy

Trail surface: Dirt singletrack, barrier-free

Best seasons: Spring, summer, fall

Other trail users: None

Trail amenities: Restrooms, picnic facilities, camping

Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs permitted in developed picnic areas, but not China Cove

Fees and permits: Day-use fee to enter the park. Free parking is available along Donner Pass Road outside the park. To reach the trailhead from outside the park, follow the park road to the visitor center.

Schedule: Visitor center (museum) hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

Maps: USGS Truckee and Norden CA; park trail map available at the entrance station and on an information board at the entrance

Trail contact: Donner Memorial State Park, 12593 Donner Pass Rd., Truckee, CA 96161; (530) 582-7892; www.parks.ca.gov. Sierra State Parks Foundation (info about Tahoe-Truckee area state parks), sierrastateparks.org.

Other: While at the park you can visit the Emigrant Trail Museum (open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily); the Pioneer Monument; and the Murphy family cabin site (a remnant of the Donner expedition). Contact ReserveAmerica (800-444-7275; reserveamerica.com) for camping reservations.

Finding the trailhead: Take CA 89 from Tahoe City or CA 28 from Kings Beach to I-80 in Truckee. Head west on I-80 to the Donner Pass Road exit (about 0.7 mile west of the CA 89 interchange with I-80). Go left (south) on Donner Pass Road to the well-signed park entrance on the left (south). The trailhead is in the parking lot for the picnic area. Follow the park road past the entrance station and across the bridge, staying right at the gated campground road. The signed lot is on the right. GPS: N39 19.415' / W120 14.220'

The Hike

The story of the Donner Party is one of the grimmest in the history of the American West. Trapped by deep snow below the summit of what would become known as Donner Pass in the winter of 184647, these embattled emigrantstheyd already encountered a number of hardships on their cross-country passageendured madness, despair, and cannibalism in their fight to survive. More than thirty souls perished in the scattering of cabins and camps the travelers established around Donner Lake; two of those cabin sites are preserved within the park boundaries.

No worries of such trauma on this hike, howeverits barely long or arduous enough to warrant a pause for a handful of trail mix. The route also sheds light on how this rugged high country was eventually rendered habitable, with interpretive panels describing settlement and industry in the area and the construction of the railroad and highway that would eventually make travel over the infamous pass relatively easy, even in winter.

The interpretive part of the trail is located at its west end; if you pay the entrance fee, you can park at the beach at China Cove and hike back toward the entrance station. Its described here beginning at the picnic area at the Donner Creek dam. You can also start at the parks visitor center.

The trail begins at a small sign near the gauging station on Donner Creek, with the blue-green lake welling up alongside the dirt track. It roughly parallels the park road, with access to lakeside beaches, picnic grounds, and restrooms along most of its length. Expect some road noise from the nearby interstate and the park roadand the occasional rumble and whistle blow of a train riding high on the mountainside to the southbut youll also be able to hear birds chirping in the lakeside brambles and the wind whirring through the treetops.