Andrea’s Donner Lake Vacation Home Rental Cottage
Area Events and Attractions |
Pet
Emergency Information:
Donner-Truckee veterinary Hospital
9701 Hwy. 267, Truckee, CA 96161
530.587.4366
Only 20 minutes
to Reno Nevada
Fabulous nightlife, outrageous casinos, world class entertainment,
great shopping and only 25 minutes to Reno International Airport.
Check out Go
To RenoTahoe.com
Tahoe
Whitewater Tours
Tahoe City (530) 581-2441
2630 River Rd.
Office at Hwy. 89 and Squaw Valley Road entrance.
Prosser Creek - Commemorative Emigrant
Trail
A wonderful hike with your pooch, or on a mountain bike, no
leashes required.
Follow Hwy 89 north from Truckee. You'll pass Alder Creek
on your left side; continue about 1/2 mile pass over Prosser
Creek bridge and on the right you'll see a sign - Hobart Mills.
Park in front of Hobart Mills sign. Start at trail head sign:
'Commemorative Emigrant Trail'. Stay on low road to reservoir
or take high road.
Wild
Goose Restaurant
Located lakeside on the North Shore of Lake Tahoe. Come experience
our passion. Through the culinary vision of Executive Chef John
Tesar you will experience modern cuisine rooted in tradition;
created from the freshest seasonal ingredients. Contemporary
American dining with stunning lake views. Wild Goose Restaurant
Open Year-Round Daily, located at:
7320 North Lake Boulevard in Tahoe Vista.
Reservations are recommended.
PHONE: 530-546-3640
Fire Sign Cafe'
1785 W. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City
(530) 583-0871
Homestyle cooking and a cozy country atmosphere (breakfast,
lunch).
Jake's on the Lake
780 No. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City
(530) 583-0188
Continental cuisine, daily fresh fish. Lakeside dining nightly,
lunch Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
4 miles to Commercial Row in Truckee,
where you can stroll along the wooden walkways and enjoy a
slice of the old west and the historic district with galleries,
shops, restaurants.
Donner Memorial State Park
Located in the beautiful Sierra Nevada, Donner Memorial State
Park offers the summer vacationer opportunities for camping,
picnicking, boating, fishing, waterskiing, and hiking.
The park is forested primarily with lodgepole and Jeffrey
pine and white fir; because of its elevation, nearly six
thousand feet, there is no poison oak. It is home to deer,
squirrels, chipmunks, porcupines, raccoons, beaver, and
a wide variety of birds.
In and around the park you can see
some of the Sierra Nevada's geologic history. The granite
rose within the crust of the
earth in enormous bubbles, then cooled and hardened to
be exposed by erosion. The older sedimentary rocks were
then
transformed by temperature and pressure. The Sierra's steep
eastern face, the barrier that faced the Donner Party and
other California emmigrants, were created when gigantic
upheavals tilted a section of the earth's crust as if it
were a door
with its hinge on the western edge. The glaciers that dominated
the area a few thousand years ago have left their traces
too, the huge boulders and other debris that remained when
the ice melted, scattered as if by a giant hand.
While the
park has no boat launching ramp, a public ramp operated
by the Truckee Donner Recreation & Parks District
is available in the northwest corner of Donner Lake. There
is a fee charged for boat launching. For information call
(530) 582-7720. The lake is open to both power and sail
boats.
The park has over three miles of frontage
on Donner Lake and Creek. Fishing is not usually spectacular,
though
there
are trout and kokanee in the lake. The lake is planted
with catchable trout and a fishing license is required.
Many fishermen
prefer to use the park as a base to visit nearby lakes.
For suggestions ask a ranger.
The park has about 2.5 miles (4 km.)
of hiking trails, and more enthusiastic hikers can also
explore the neighboring
Tahoe National Forest. Maps are for sale at the museum.
Also,
located at Donner Memorial State Park is a campground
of 150 sites and a day-use area along the lake with
picnic tables, restrooms, a beach, fishing, and a lakeside
interpretive
trail that has 18 panels which discuss the nature and
cultural
diversity of the area.
Campsite reservations in California
State Parks may be made by calling the current toll-free
reservation
hotline,
(800)
444-PARK, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.Pacific Time,
seven days a week. Reservations for tours at Hearst Castle
and Ano Nuevo
State Reserve will continue to be on a first-come,
first-served basis until further notice.
On the first of each month, campers
will have access to an entire month of available start-up
dates up
to seven
months
in advance. For example, callers on the first of
February will be able to reserve California State
Parks campsites
in August.
Truckee
The Truckee-Donner area is the center of a vast
recreational wonderland. Truckee and Donner
Lake are located 200
miles northeast of San Francisco, 33 miles
west of Reno, and
13 miles from Lake Tahoe. Its location makes
the Truckee-Donner area the jumping off point for all
types of seasonal
sports including fishing, boating, water and
snow skiing, sailing,
rafting, camping, hiking, horseback riding,
and many more activities.
How Truckee got its name
Truckee lies beside the main emigrant trail
into California. The first emigrants to discover
the
Truckee basin were
the Stephen-Townsend-Murphy Party, which
passed through the area
in 1844. While traveling westward along the
Humboldt River in Western Nevada, a northern
Pauite Indian
befriended the emigrant party and offered
to guide them to California.
His
name sounded something like "Tro-Kay," but the
emigrants called him "Truckee." As they proceeded
westward they discovered a beautiful stream running down
from the mountains, and later a large deep lake; they named
the stream the "Truckee River" and the lake "Truckee
Lake," in honor of their guide. The
stream still bears Chief Truckee's name,
but Truckee
Lake became Donner Lake,
in memory of the emigrants whose tragic ordeal
occurred on its shores.
Donner Lake
Beautiful Donner Lake, called the "Gem of the Sierra," is
located immediately beside Truckee. The
lake is approximately 3 miles long, 3/4 miles wide, and 200
feet deep. A favorite
with anglers, Donner Lake produces large
trout, Kokanee and Mackinaw. The lake is a favorite for sailboaters,
water skiers
and swimmers. There is a swimming beach
within Donner State Park at China Cove, but no lifeguard service
is provided.
A public beach with lifeguard service is
located at the lake's west end. Rental cabins and comfortable motels
are scattered
along the lake's shore. Contact the Truckee-Donner
Chamber of Commerce at (530) 587-2757 for more information.
Donner
Memorial State Park is at the east end
of the lake.
The Donner Party
In 1846 a great westward movement began. A small
part of the movement, the Donner Party,
a looseknit band
of midwestern
farmers and adventurers, left Independence,
Missouri, in April of 1846.Traveling west through
the Great
Plains, they crossed the Rocky Mountain
crest at South Pass,
in
Wyoming
territory, and then headed southwest
through a relatively new and unexplored shortcut,
or "cutoff." This
cutoff was their undoing, for rather
than a shortcut, it added precious weeks to their
travel
time. The party
finally
reached present day Truckee in late October,
1846. It was too late.
Already starving, their stamina depleted,
the emigrants were greeted by one of the earliest and
most severe of Sierra
winters. The emigrants could not climb
out of the Truckee basin, and they remained there
to wait
out the winter.
In January, 1847, a few broke through
westward, over the 7,088
foot pass (now Donner Pass) and they
summoned relief
parties. By April 1847, only 48 of
the 89 emigrants who comprised
the Donner Party were still alive.
The others, 41 in all, had died along the way.
All but a few had died of starvation
or cold in the long Sierra winter. Those
that survived
subsisted
on their
few meager provisions, the ox hides,
and finally the bodies
of their dead friends and relatives.
There is not a more tragic
and gruesome story from the American
west.
Donner Memorial State Park is now located
where many of the emigrants spent
their last days,
and the site
of one
of the
emigrant cabins is now marked by
a massive monument to the western pioneers;
its
base is 22 feet high,
the same
height
as the snow in that terrible winter
of
1846-47. More fortunate emigrant
trains traveled through
the Truckee
area in the
summer and fall of 1847, and in
January, 1848, James Marshall discovered gold
at Sutter's Mill near Coloma
in the Sierra
foothills. Word spread quickly,
and the great California gold rush was on.
Emigrant Trail Museum
The Emigrant Trail Museum, located
at Donner Memorial State Park,
takes about
1 hour
to visit and depicts
the history
of the area and the people who
came into this part of the Sierra. Post
cards,
posters, maps,
and books
about
the
human and natural history of the
area are for sale at the museum.
Near the museum is the Pioneer Monument
and the Murphy family cabin site.
Also starting
from the
side of
the museum is
a self-guiding nature trail which
is a one half mile loop. Nature
trail guides are available
at
the museum
and campground
entrance station. Hikes, ranging
from
1
- 2 hours, start at the museum
at 10:00 a.m.
The
hikes, special
feature
shows, and campfires start in
late June. For specific information
on these activities,
please
call the
park at (530) 582-7892.
Fees for museum and/or slide
show: Adults - $2.00, youths
(6-12) -
$1.00 under
6 - free
Museum hours:
Summer: Memorial Day thru labor
Day 10:00 - 5:00 every day
Winter: (September - May) 10:00
- 4:00
Slide show: 10:15, 11:00, 12:00,
1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 Donner
Party Story
(25 minutes long)
Photo of Historic
Downtown Truckee
If you are hunting for the perfect place to stay in Tahoe,
look no further for your Lake Tahoe vacation rental. We are
convenient to Tahoe's best features, yet still give you the
feeling of seclusion. Donner Lake pet-friendly vacation cabin
is your ideal Lake Tahoe area vacation rental.
Truckee and the Donner Summit are a short distance
from San Francisco, Sacramento and Reno. This is one of the
most beautiful and historic spots in the Sierra Nevada. Residents
and visitors of Truckee/Donner Lake can walk out their front
doors directly into the surrounding National Forests with
miles and miles of trails. Truckee offers year round sporting
activities such as boating, hiking, biking, fishing and all
your favorite winter sports. We have art galleries, music
festivals and both summer and winter specialty festivals.
In addition we have the Truckee Air Show, Dog Sled Races and
Truckee Rodeo which are big favorites with locals and visitors
from all over the country.
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Boating, fishing, and swimming can be found
at Donner Lake, the Truckee River, and Stampede, Boca, and
Prosser Creek reservoirs. Lake Tahoe and its recreation are
only 25 minutes away. Nearby ski resorts include Squaw Valley,
Alpine Meadows, Northstar-at Tahoe, Donner Ski Ranch, Tahoe
Donner, Sugar Bowl, Soda Springs, and Boreal. Golfers can
play at Tahoe Donner, Ponderosa, Northstar, and Squaw Creek
golf courses. Reno, with its shows, gambling and excitement
is thirty minutes away.
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