Day 5 of 2020 Lake Tahoe Trip, North Lake Tahoe, Donner Pass and Downtown Reno

Fifth day of my Lake Tahoe trip. Weather forecast indicated a storm was coming to Lake Tahoe region. Before that storm hit, I visited North Lake Tahoe and Donner Pass, before checking into another hotel in Reno for my final two nights.

Stacked Tunnels at Donner Pass
Tunnel #7 in front, the longer Tunnel #6 (Summit Tunnel) in the back.

For the previous four days, by and large, the weather had been nice for my snowshoeing trips around Lake Tahoe (despite having to brave high winds two days ago). Yet the weather forecast indicated a storm bringing heavy snow would be hitting Lake Tahoe for my final two days in the region, staring in the afternoon of Dec 25 into the night, ceasing in the morning of Dec 26. This weather was obviously not for back country exploration, regarding both my body and my rental car (during heavy snow, the roads surrounding Lake Tahoe could enact chain control, which did happen later today).
At the same time, not far from Lake Tahoe, Donner Pass had always been on my bucket list, a place more than once epitomized the nation’s endeavor into western frontiers. On way to Donner Pass I would pass north Lake Tahoe, where I stopped and captured a few photos of the impending storm. At Donner Pass, I watched the skies being overtaken by approaching storm as snow started to chase me off the summit. Finally, towards the end of day, I took a brief tour of downtown Reno, of its casinos that were unusually quiet given both COVID and Christmas.

Stateline Lookout Trail

I fathomed I would have plenty of time for the day, so I added this short hike to my itinerary. Measuring only 2.2km roundtrip, the trail led to the site of a former fire tower near the state line between California and Nevada, with views overlooking Lake Tahoe (between trees).

Trail Parking

The trailhead was on a hill in a residential neighborhood. Even after reading through many AllTrails comments and a few online searches, I still had no clue about parking. This is a photo taken from my drone, there’s absolutely no parking on the western side of the road. On the eastern side, there was some shoulder at the orange arrow, where I parked most of my car at (1/3 of my car was still on roadway). Parking there may or may not be fine. (I took it that it’s Christmas Day and I only parked there for a short time, so I wasn’t ticketed.). Towards the end of my hike, I encountered another group of people who parked their car farther north (just below the blue arrow). That may or may not be fine.

 
 
Trail

The trail was wide enough for occasional service vehicles. During my visit it’s 97% covered in snow, microspikes came in handy.

 
Forest

Tree

These look like pine trees to me? According to an information board nearby, most of the region’s pine trees were cut down in the 1850s as the nearby silver mine at Virginia City required both building material and fuel. The Union’s thirst for silver to finance Civil War efforts only hastened this process. After logging slowed in the 1890s, most of the old pine forests were replaced by fir trees, which were less resistant to drought.

Shortly after that I was at the fire tower lookout.

Fire Tower Lookout

Site of an old fire watch tower that was removed in 2002, giving way to this lookout with views of Lake Tahoe to the south.

It was a windy day from the impending storm, which was hardly felt along the trail shielded by surrounding forest. But at the lookout, the wind was brutal. So I quickly snapped these photos.

Mountains across Lake Tahoe
Granite Chief Wilderness.

Mountains across Lake Tahoe
Desolation Wilderness, with overhanging ominous clouds.

Mountains across Lake Tahoe
Homewood Ski Resort in the center.

 
Shores of Lake Tahoe

 
 
Ski resorts around Lake Tahoe
Heavenly Mountain / Homewood / Squaw Valley / Diamond

To mark the moment, I launched my drone from this fire lookout site, (before quickly retreating back to the woods and away from the wind).

2x playback speed, 22 seconds, 2160p60fps, 12Mbps/32.4MB for H265, 13.3Mbps/37.2MB for H264.

While the ascent of my drone was shaky, once airborne it could barely made it way against strong headwind onto Lake Tahoe. So I took the following shot at its shore before flying it back.

Overlooking Lake Tahoe

After that, I made my way back.

Mountains to the East

 
Trail

By the time I got back to the trailhead it’s just past 11am, still early in my opinion. So instead of heading straight for Donner Pass, I made a final stop at Kings Beach, a town on the north of Lake Tahoe.

Kings Beach

There’s free street parking up to 2 hours (if I remember correctly), taking advantage of which I headed for the city’s public beach, which also offered public restrooms.

Kings Beach Pier

The splashy waves were suggestive of the strength of winds, and the bitterness that they brought along, chasing out the last warmth of sun as ominous clouds started to dominate the distant horizon.

 

Mount Tallac across Lake Tahoe

These photos were taken less than 7 minutes apart, about enough time for clouds to conquer all but the grandest peaks.

Mount Tallac across Lake Tahoe

Yet at the end, the mountains turned out victorious, keeping the clouds at bay for the moment.

 
Shores of Lake Tahoe

 
Mountains

Lake Tahoe from Kings Beach

I spent about 20 minutes at Kings Beach, before being blown away by the wind continuing on to Donner Pass.

 
Distant Mountains and Northstar Ski Resort
Scenes on way to Donner Pass.

Donner Pass Area

Donner Lake

Before the actual pass, the country road passed along Donner Lake, a large body of water flanked by mountains and forests. There’s a public boat launch site on the north-west of the lake, where I joined a group of others appreciating the scenery.

 
Railway up Donner Pass

Distant Mountains
Mount Rose Wilderness, the sorts of Relay Peak and Mount Houghton, where I was the previous day.

Donner Lake

While clear blue sky dominated left/east side of this photo, the right/west side was occupied by clouds, sign of the incoming storm.

Donner Peak from Donner Lake

With few obstructions in the air, I launched my drone at that site, overflying Donner Lake and taking an aerial tour of the railroad winding up the mountains to Donner Pass.

Overlooking Donner Lake

 

Rail Tracks
These tracks are still in use today.

Snowshed

And here’s a video from my drone. I tried to follow the tracks as far as possible (until I lost signal). On the way back, wind was strong from the incoming storm (look at the waves on the water) that I had to lower the drone to almost water level to bring it back.

Overlooking Donner Lake

After that, I drove up the mountain to Donner Pass.

Donner Pass

If there’s a place that characterizes the peril, the bravery, the calamity and fortitude of America’s western expansion, that should be Donner Pass.

The pass was named after a group of California-bound settlers, who departed Missouri for California in 1846. Their later-than-usual departure and choice of a lengthy “shortcut” from established routes meant they only reached the foot of Sierra Nevada in early November, by which time an unusually early but heavy snowfall made the mountain route impassable. Some of the group members resorted to cannibalism for survival. Of the 87 members of the party, only 48 survived.
Later I learned the party’s winter encampments were just towards the east of Donner Lake, in what’s now Donner Memorial State Park.

Adding to that, Donner Pass was also the site of the last section of trans-continental railway. In the 1860s, about 12000, mostly Chinese, “underpaid and underappreciated”, workers, toiled all-year-round and constructed Central Pacific Railroad through the mountain pass with a series of tunnels and snowsheds. The most notable of which was tunnel #6 just by the summit. At 506m long and even with help of dynamite, the workers only managed less than a meter per day. But with years of sustained labor, the tunnel was finished and trans-continental railway opened in 1868.
Nowadays, the series of original tunnels at the summit were abandoned by the railway company in favor of a longer and more directed tunnel through the mountain at lower elevation. The rail tracks were removed and the tunnels open to the public.

A note about parking in the area. There’s a parking lot just west of the historic summit tunnel #6, the access to which is through Sugar Bowl Road / Old Donner Summit Road. There were lots of cars parked at the lot, mostly families sledding on a nearby slope. In winter a temporary ticket/information booth was set along Sugar Bowl Road (for the ski resort down the road), the gentleman in it kindly informed me that the parking lot access road was unplowed, which might be a problem for my 2WD rental without tire chain. It didn’t seem to me that they charge any fees using that lot next to tunnel entrance.
So I resorted to my backup parking option, which was 400m away, a place called “Summit Haus” on Google Maps. The parking lot there was much smaller, luckily I pulled into the last open slot. They didn’t seem to charge any fees either.

At just before 1pm, I entered Tunnel #6, not knowing that by the time I came out on the other side, snow would replace a clear blue sky.

 
Donner Pass Summit Tunnel Entrance
Weather changed a lot during the 45 minutes that separated these two photos.

 
Summit Tunnel
Western (left) and eastern (right) end.

Summit Tunnel Floor

Cold temperature and constant dripping meant path in the tunnel was mostly covered in ice. Microspikes would come in handy here.

Summit Tunnel Floor

One such location where water dripped from the rocks above and formed ice sculpture underneath.
During the construction of this tunnel, the workers dug a vertical shaft halfway, then four teams of workers dug towards each other. I guessed this was the site of such vertical shaft which they subsequently closed, but water seeped through.

After I came out from the other side of the tunnel, clouds had overtaken Donner Pass. Soon, snow began to fall, starting lightly.

 
Landscape in Snow

I didn’t want to drive in the snow back downhill, so I hastened my steps and decided to make the “China Wall” by Tunnel #8 my turnback point.

 
Tunnel #7 / #8

Soon I arrived at the wall after passing the short Tunnel #7.

 

China Wall
Probably used to keep avalanches off railway tracks.

 
Graffiti
At the mouth of Tunnel #8.

As the snow started to fall heavier, I made my way back.

Shelter

Summit Tunnel Floor
Towards its eastern end with some graffiti on the concrete walls.

Summit Tunnel

The rugged granite rock faces that stood testimony to the workers’ lofty ambitions and grim realities, as if one could still hear their chiseling sound if not bitter tears.

After I came out from the other side of summit tunnel, snowflakes permeated the air. I walked back to my car and headed down the hill while the road was still snow-free, making a final stop at the summit bridge.

Summit Bridge

Donner Summit Bridge

A road bridge not much wider than a single lane, built in 1926 and renovated in 1995. The original Lincoln Highway avoided this bridge and took a detour up the mountain.

A small parking lot / overlook lay next to the bridge. Snow was already limiting my visibility, so I didn’t stay there for long.

 
George R. Stewart Peak
Taken along the tunnel trail (left) and from summit bridge (right), separated only by 40 minutes.

 
Roads up Donner Pass
Taken along the tunnel trail (left) and from summit bridge (right), separated only by 40 minutes.

After that, I went on Interstate 80 and headed for Reno, which mostly ran along Truckee River in a valley. This was certainly one of the most enjoyable / scenic sections of roadway in my opinion.

 
Interstate 80 in Truckee River Valley

One thing that’s not enjoyable at all were the horrendous road conditions in California. To begin with, the expressway was paved in concrete, which created a rhythmic but uncomfortable beat. Adding to that were the numerous potholes that thankfully I didn’t need to avoid as hard given the rental natural of my car. Worst of all, all of these miseries went away the moment I crossed into Nevada. It should be a shame to California, a state with the highest gasoline tax, that its roads were in such terrible shape. In fairness I should acknowledge that only a minority of road maintenance money came from gasoline tax these days.

 
Village beneath Mountains

I had a late lunch on a rest stop along I80 outside Verdi. Across Truckee River these sprinkles of houses seemed to be the relic of mining era.
The distant mountains veiled by both snow and clouds were so tempting for my drone. Yet the wind was strong at this spot that my drone could barely stay put in the air, so I gave up the idea.
When the interstate highway was built in the 1970s, Nevada Department of Transportation salvaged old bridge rails from the abandoned Lincoln Highway and displayed them at this rest stop.

Reno

Downtown

This was my first time visiting the state of Nevada, a state famous for its casinos. So I thought it’s only appropriate for me to pay downtown Reno and its casinos a visit. Despite that guided by ration and maybe the lack of cash, I didn’t try out my luck.

 
Reno Streets

Casino Interior

A mixture of COVID and Christmas Day meant most seats at slot machines were empty. As for the tables, there were a few with only croupier but not players.

Wingfield Park

Since it’s still early in the day, I decided to visit Wingfield Park, an island in Truckee River downtown Reno.

 
Truckee River by Wingfield Park

It’s only a small island, the combination of winter and COVID had kept it quiet. That is, except the waterbirds.

 
 
Waterbirds
They didn’t seem afraid of human at all. I could set my camera really close to them.

Street Art
That’s an angry electric box.

Donation Post

Wingfield Park was pedestrian-only, so it took me a while to realize that money going into this parking meter was actually donation to Nevada Park Services (it’s even covered in artist graffiti). Obviously it’s still connected to Reno’s street parking system, it’s Christmas day so its screen said “holiday free parking”.

Distant Storm

Since noon, I watched all the roads around Lake Tahoe getting covered by snow from traffic cameras as the ominous clouds in the far-end of this photo made its way through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, yet no snow fell in Reno throughout the night, I even got to watch a spectacular sunset glow later that day.

Fisherman
Must take some courage to get in frigid winter water like this.

Windmill
Took me a while to realize that the wings of this sculpture could rotate.

After grabbing my dinner from one of the few supermarkets that were still open on Christmas Day, I checked into Hyatt Place Reno Airport, where I would be spending the next two nights.

Hotel: Hyatt Place Reno Airport

The hotels around Reno charged higher rates during Christmas, in comparison this Cat2 Hyatt Place at 6000 points per night (after 2020Q4 promotion rebate with Chase credit card) seemed a good option. In addition to that, the two qualifying nights would roll on to 2021 as part of 2020Q4 promotion.

As for the hotel itself, its building was only 320m from airport terminal on a direct line, but 890m walking (if one chose not to jump fences and cross mediums). The hotel seemed to offer free shuttle, I didn’t need that so I didn’t ask.

Reno wasn’t a very busy airport at night, and while I could still hear airplanes running down the runway, it’s by no means loud. In comparison the noise from nearby highway was more of a nuisance. I had two sound nights of sleep with my ear plugs.
Unfortunately my room was in the corner facing north. If facing east I might be able to snap a few photos of planes…

Welcome Gift

In addition to the usual two bottles of water (which I turned down since I had lots of water bottles), this Hyatt Place offered a chocolate bar as a welcome gift for Hyatt elite members, which was pretty nice. (I haven’t got anything other than water bottles at other properties.)

 
Room Interior
Seems a bit smaller than other Hyatt Place’s that I stayed at. While it’s comfortable as usual, some of the lights were not in best shape and flickered at times.

Breakfast

While I liked the buffet breakfast of Hyatt Place a lot, this COVID breakfast bag was a bit underwhelming. There wasn’t another choice its content was about the same as the Carson City motel that I stayed a few days ago at half the price.

END

Day 5 of 2020 Lake Tahoe Trip, North Lake Tahoe, Donner Pass and Downtown Reno by Huang's Site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.