Donner Lake Kitchen

On August 4, 2023, I wrote that we had been camping at Donner Lake for a few days. I woke at 7am that morning in my bag sleeping on a tarp beneath the stars. However, I was lazy until nine because we really had no plans.

I cooperatively got the boys out of their tent, I made them some mush. They had never really been enthusiastic about it. Once again the neighbor, she was from Carson City, walked through our campsite. I noted that she liked to chat.

We washed up and put on sunscreen before walking to the boat rentals. I got us a paddle boat and we rode out to the dog park. I noted that the Private Beach Club Marina had gated off the good beach. I also noted that the rest of the lake side neighborhoods were private so it was hard to identify a spot on that side of the lake to moor the boat. I was also a bit worried about leaving the paddleboat.

Meanwhile, as we walked to our destination, Donner Lake Kitchen, I realized the trip was going to take a while. It was 15 minutes to the restaurant and they were about to close. When we finally made it the staff took our order but we had to wait awhile to eat. I ended up pleased with the experience given the effusive waitress and the pictures of Donner Pass everywhere.

When we were finished eating, we stopped at the corner store for beverages, and I got the boys some water cannons. We had to walk on the highway for a bit in our return to the boat. I was worried the gate through The Beach Club parking lot was locked but the boys got it open easily enough. We found the paddle boat just fine.

As we paddled the boat back to the boat launch my intention was to go swimming off of the boat but we basically ran out of time. Likewise, the current in the lake was compounded by the wind and waves to make the experience frantic. The boys could only pedal so much and at this point I had to manage a beer too.
After floating around the lake with the boys, we returned to the boat ramp. We saw a train go by up on Schallenberger Ridge from the boat dock. It was headed east. I was happy to get out of the boat. By the time we headed for the campsite, my sister had texted and when we got to the campsite we found her setting up her tent.

I was a bit tired, but wanted to go swimming. The boys suggested we just go, so we left and my sister agreed to meet us later. I took us to the lake outlet and we jumped in. I found the rock I had been sitting on the day before. The boys didn’t want to get in but joined me because they had water cannon. I noted that the swimming was better than the previous day because it was earlier in the day.

While we sat on the rock, we watched two ladies and their kids. When my sister showed up, we sat across from the rock where I had been enjoying the sun. The boys and I messed with the kids swimming nearby. The youngest was five and kept spraying us but the boys had cannons.

There were a couple girls he was antagonizing as well. We learned a bit later that my sister knew their mother as they were all from the same neighborhood in Reno.

We walked back a bit later and I got us settled into the campsite. We ate the Mexican food my sister had brought. Later we roasted marshmallows on the butane stove. When the boys finally got in their tent, I was able to chat with my sister for a bit and have a beer.

As I was writing up my day, Amtrak sent me a text saying that the train we had booked for the next day was 2 1/2 hours late.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

The Schallenberger Tunnels

On August 3, 2023, I wrote that we had been camping at Donner Lake for a few days. That morning I woke up a couple times in my bag sleeping on a tarp beneath the stars but I ended up sleeping until eight in the morning.

After they got out of their tent, I made some mush for the boys and one of the neighbors came by. One of the kids we had been seeing around the site stopped by. It was her last morning at the campgrounds and it was kind of sad because she really liked hanging out with us.

A bit later we packed a small bag and made our way through the campground to service roads granting access to Cold Stream Canyon. Cold Stream is the canyon where the main rail line makes a giant dogleg in its ascent to Donner Pass. My plan was to hike the canyon paths to the rails on the ridge to view the tracks and maybe see some trains as well.

I made sure the boys were hydrated. We saw Split Rock, which turned out to be a glacial erratic. I gave them a short geology lesson about it. At Coldstream Road we saw a Ranger’s truck, but the gates were all locked so I knew the road was probably safe for us to walk on. After a short walk we found a horse trail which headed to the top of the ridge.

To facilitate the 300 foot climb, I told the boys that the person at the front of the line chooses a rest point and everyone passes them. We made it up 10 switchbacks this way. I knew how many there were based on the maps so we counted. While hiking we heard and later saw a cargo train pass out of the Schallenberger Tunnels and go into Truckee. We also saw some rail crews.

While climbing I noted that the forest was generally pretty quiet. I was able to identify Tinker Knob in the distance – a mountain I had climbed the year before. While there were some birds I noticed that there weren’t many more than the occasional vulture or hawk. It was not all that common to see smaller birds and I guessed this was due to the elevation and afternoon temperatures.

When we finally made it to the service road at the top, we rested and had water. The trail we were on climbs over the tracks on the crest above the rail line at the tip of the ridge there because the tracks pass through the Schallenberger Tunnels. When we were done with our rest we headed over to the western portal, which is somewhat visible from the campgrounds hundreds of feet below.

When we got there, the westbound Amtrak Zephyr passed through, which I found very exciting. I took a bunch of photos. We also climbed up to the top of the tunnel to get a better view. After a short rest we returned along the trails from which we came and continued until we were right above the eastern portal. The boys used the binoculars I had gotten them earlier in the year and we witnessed several rail crews rolling along the tracks backhoes and trucks fitted for riding the rails. Finally, after a bit of a wait, we had the great fortune to see the east bound Amtrak Zephyr too!

We descended the ten switchbacks through the forest to Cold Stream Canyon Road and descended to the gravel ponds near i80 then. I took them to Chevron, which was the only store in the area. I got a soda for the boys and then walked over to the museum.

Much later we went swimming in Donner Lake along the lake outlet. I thought it was a bit late to go swimming but I found a nice sunny rock and a bit of enjoyment. In fact I was surprised it was actually warm enough and that the lake temperature was also comfortable.

A short while later we returned to our campsite and had a dinner of ramen and some other items. Eventually the boys crawled into their tent to sleep and once they were squared away, I opened a beer and started writing.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Tahoe City

On August 2, 2023, my second night with my boys at the Donner Lake Campground, I wrote that the boys had gone to sleep soon after I wrote in my notebook the night before. I had done a great job of dressing warm and fell asleep at an appropriate hour.

I had checked the bus schedules and the timing for our transfers and figured out that we had to be up at six. When I was up, I set out food and got myself ready for the day. Then I got the boys up and encouraged them to prepare for their day until about seven.

I was a bit frazzled but we made it to the bus stop by eight. In fact we were early since the bus was a bit late. We transferred at Safeway and when we were on the 89 bus on Highway 89 I was ecstatic. I showed the boys the rocks above the canyon and the other points of interest.

A guy sitting next to me practically told me his life story – which included working on lifts in Olympic Valley. The driver asked if I had gone to High Sierra music festival, and I revealed that I had known the promoter.

At Tahoe city the TART Connect guy graciously drove us to the laundromat. I started a load and then we went shopping for snacks and other stuff. After that, we went to Rosies and had pancakes. I also rotated the laundry in between bites of pancakes.

Once we had gotten the laundry squared away we walked across the street to the beach and I was really happy with the result. I got a quarter mile out and the lake was still only 6 feet deep. We found a rock to sit on a short distance out. It was warm and the boys actually swam. We also enjoyed the view.

After that we switched gears to enjoy the local playground. They played a bit with the other boys, but I mostly set wet clothing out etc. The kids the boys were playing with were apparently a lot of fun.

When we were done we went to the dam separating Lake Tahoe from the Truckee River and had some snacks at the cantina there. Then we took the bus back to Truckee and onward. Transferring took a long time, but once we hiked back to the camnp site, things were great.

The boys had some toy slingshots they had picked up at the corner store the day before. A little girl played with them and I noted that when her parents stopped through they turned out to be friendly.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Coffee in Soda Springs

On August 1, 2023, I wrote that while my twin seven year old boys and I were sleeping at our campsite on Donner Lake one of my boys woke up at 3am to say I love you and I thought that was really cute.

We slept until nine that morning. I gave them chocolate milk, and an apple and then tried to pack for a trip to Donner Summit later in the day. We were going to have dinner in Truckee also.

My older sister arrived from Reno at 10:30am with her daughter and the five of us headed up i80 around 11 o’clock. Old 40 had had a landslide over the winter so we had to go the long way.

I got coffee in Soda Springs and gave the boys a mini tour as we closed in on the original transcontinental tunnels over Donner Pass, which are now abandoned. Once there, we took a selfie at the entrance next to the dedication and historic marker. Everyone dealt pretty well with the first spooky tunnel, which is basically a raw bore through granite. We had a bunch of flashlights.

The boys got way ahead of us. The next tunnels, numbered Seven and Eight, went quickly. We climbed through a bunch of holes in the side of Tunnel Eight to look at the view in the canyon. My sister bruised her shin so had to take a break, but that section contains my favorite gallery in all of the tunnels so I continued on with the boys.

We made it all the way to Tunnel Nine and I got some great pictures before we rushed back. The boys really enjoyed it. We saw climbers and I noticed some new graffiti I had never seen before.

Later we drove i80 back to Truckee and I noted that there was a lot of traffic. At the campsites we went to the lake for a short bit and hung out at the picnic tables to have lunch. My sister had made us a great picnic. I enjoyed a walk through the taiga near the lake too.

We took a swim and then we drove to a brewery on the east end of Truckee for dinner. Eventually my sister and niece had to go and they dropped us at our campsite before driving home.

I was feeling exhausted then and we started getting in our sleeping bags by nine. I noted that they were still making noises in their tent as I was writing.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Donner at Twilight

On July 31 I wrote that the day before, I had boarded the California Zephyr to Truckee with my seven year old boys. I tried to keep them in the observation car as long as possible but the trip dragged on after Colfax so we returned to our seats in coach. We eventually returned to the observation car to enjoy the Yuba Canyon with the tunnels. I chatted with some of the other passengers until we again returned to our seats for a rest.

Much of the problem with our trip was the fact that the train was stalled behind a broken cargo train for an hour in there, and when that cleared, we rode through Soda Springs. I pointed out the lodge, the road and the tunnel - all places we had been together. It was at that point that I had to get the three of us off the train. The sun had just gone down and here I noted that I had left stuff in the observation car so I retrieved them.

I should’ve made a sanity check in there to make sure I didn’t lose anything. We stood in the wheelchair room until we pulled into the station (I got a great picture of Donner at twilight). I realized after we had gotten off that I had left a few things in the baggage area of the train. One of my boys was displeased with me about that since I had misplaced a book of his.

We arrived at the station at around 9:40 that night. I got the boys some popsicles and waited for the local rideshare. When they finally arrived, the driver was really nice and helpful. They knew where the Donner Campground was and helped us unload. Setting up the tent and getting the kids to bed took a long time and the summer night was actually pretty cold. I had to put in a lot of work to get our campsite together myself. The boys were really helpful though.

At 7:15 am on the day that I wrote this, I woke up on my tarp under the morning sky. I got the boys up and aired out their tent. Then I got us ready to go into Truckee. I made backpacks, collected items for the trip and put everything away. The boys ate pretzels and drank their power drinks.

We walked to the boat rentals and then to the ranger station. The boys were in good spirits. I had a can of coffee - an innovation I had discovered on previous camping trips. We had to run for the TART bus but the website was wrong by about 10 minutes, so it turned out OK. The boys took their jackets off at that point.

We first went to CVS and picked up some hats and sandals. Then we went to a sports shop, and I got a mini backpack for myself. We also went to the laundromat and I got tacos next-door because it’s impossible not to.

After that we walked to the coffee shop and the natural food store on the far side of interstate 80. We looked at the new Tahoe Truckee bike share system but the seats were too tall for the boys. I told them that we would get bikes the next time we visited. We went to Safeway and bought a lot of food before catching a bus back to the laundromat

Once we were done at the laundromat we caught the highway 89 bus to the Amtrak station and I took the boys to the pizzeria. Harry Potter was playing on the TV and the boys’ brains turned to mush. I had a salad and the boys ate pizza and we say out front enjoying the view on the main street. I took the boys to an old timey ice cream parlor – that was cool.

We caught a local Truckee bus which was on the wrong end of its route-I couldn’t even figure out how that had happened or the way it worked. When we got back to Donner State Park ranger station got tokens for the showers and then we walked to our campsite.

The boys had a late snack and then went to bed. I started writing.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.

Foresthill Bridge

On July 16, 2023, I wrote that the previous day I had just left the town of Foresthill on Foresthill Road. The air was still only a bit warm but I knew the ride would be difficult. As I rode to a place I noticed on the map called Everybody’s Inn, the ride was easy enough with the singular exception of a pick up merging with traffic near the end.

I had a beer at the tavern and took in the aged interior. Apparently, the owner Cynthia had stopped offering rooms years ago and mostly catered to the breakfast crowd.

As Foresthill Road runs along the narrow Foresthill Ridge heading west from town. As it trends downhill for the most part, I knew that my ride was not going to be that difficult. However, there are occasionally segments which go up and in the areas approaching Foresthill Bridge the dips and rises become more prominent. I did this cycle about three times and on the way got photos of Monte Verde – a local landmark. I also spoke to two utility arborists.

I was low on water, and after a little walking and riding I made the Auburn Recreation Area bike trails. Sadly, it was too hot and complicated so I returned to the road. The Upper Clemintine toll house staff gave me water – but I don’t think they were very accommodating.

I rode to a trail parking lot on the south side of the road and ate most of the rest of my food. Then I went to lower Clementine and Old Auburn Road. Every mile or so I would stop to catch my breath and it was almost entirely because of the heat.

When I got to Foresthill Bridge, California’s tallest, the wind was slowing me, even as the grade downward increased. I also found my skin was a lot dryer when I was riding because of it. I stopped near the bridge and went over both sides of the roadway for photos. I was burning up and dehydrated. I finished my water.

Looking at the bridge from the east side only enhanced its prominence. Built as access to the canceled Auburn Dam, it connects the Foresthill Divide to populated areas near i80 and essentially made my trip possible.

As the trails below and adjacent to the bridge were obviously insufficient for my tastes, I rode straight across and the situation for water was worse. I also noticed anti-suicide notes on the bridge. There were two trails connected at the bridge but they descended into the canyon before heading in the direction of Auburn and therefore not great.

Climbing to Lincoln in Auburn was really hard and once I was at the top, I knew I only had minutes before I would die of exhaustion. There was no shade and I took a wrong turn but made my hotel fast enough. I noted too that the front desk staff was really nice. They gave me water and offered friendly assistance.

Over the rest of the afternoon I floated around in the pool and jacuzzi, had a burger at the restaurant and did a bit of laundry. Then, when the sun had set I rode to downtown to visit the California Club. The drunks were rude, but I had a good time.

In the morning of the day that I wrote this I woke up around 615 and managed to get on my train easily enough. At the train station there was no ticket machine so the conductor gave me a discount. I sat on the train writing and drinking coffee. The train was full. There were older people talking, toddlers with their moms. They were reclusive table mates. I was getting off at Richmond station.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.