Crossing Donner Pass on I80 is already like driving through a tunnel.
This is likely the kind of winter the Donner party encountered.
No hope on foot with wagons and horses...wimmin and kids...
Emerald Bay from the article is only about 5600ft.
Donner pass is about 7200ft.
The mountains crest, for 400 miles, at 11,000 - 14,000+ft. The higher you go, the deeper the snow.
That’s a LOT of water.
It keeps the Californians on their side of the border, so I consider it a gift!
The Donner party missed making it through to California by one day. Ric Burns (Ken’s brother) did a documentary about the Donner party that I used to show my 7th graders as their Christmas movie (hey, it’s got a lot of snow). At one point a family has to leave their two children, an eight-year old girl to take care of her 2 year-old brother. They couldn’t take the kids because of the depth of the snow. The next rescue party found both kids alive and they made it out. Kids are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.