Mountain passes *** 3 added notes

All of these picutres are taken on the drive from Sacramento to Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Some are taken on the way up, and some are at the Donner Memorial Park, in honor of the pioneers who tried to make their crossing of the Sierra Nevada's too late in the season, and got caught by an extremely bad and very early snow storm. It's to honor those who did not live to see the other side of the pass, and those very few who did make it to safety. The lake is Donner Lake (it's a snow-fed lake and extremely cold - I know! - I swam in it in the mid-1960's on a family campout! -- brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!) ...*** see some new notes below.

Tomorrow's trip is to the beach =-)

*** FYI - most of these mountains and passes are lined with these granite boulders....





...*** distance shot - all the light colored ground is granite...

...*** it's amazing and dumbfounding that the pioneers were able to take wagons across this!!! It's very 'hilly' without much smoother, grass covered land. I'm sure there are places, because it became an important pass through the mountains, but still...amazing! The Donner party became one of the groups to show (in retrospect) "what NOT to do". In their travels across the US, this is the pass that 'broke the camels back' for them. This is also the infamous pioneer party who canabalized some of their group (after some had died of exposure and starvation) when conditions became so seriously dreadful - it's quite a story. Wikopedia has the condensed version of the story.