Journeys›Photograph

Late April Along the Donner Lake Shore

·Truckee, California, United States·#hiking#california#spring#truckee#dogs#donner lake
A river flows between tree-lined sandy banks, with snow-capped mountains under a blue sky in the background.

Walked the shore with the girls and both dogs out toward China Cove, the beach you reach from Donner Memorial State Park. The cove was green and half-empty, sandy banks standing well above the waterline, boulders out in the middle that must sit underwater most of the summer. Snow still hung on in the shady spots along the bank, and the peak behind the trees was mostly white.

The trail pulled away from the water through a stretch of young pines, an old doubletrack with ruts down the middle, then dropped back to the open lake. Different lake entirely out there — wind pushing small whitecaps onto the beach, hats staying on, houses strung along the far shore under hills still patched with snow. The girls took turns balancing on a rock just off the edge while the dogs worked the shallows, the little tan one nosing down the driftwood line and the border collie circling behind him. Nobody went in past their boots. Late April up here means the beaches are open but the lake hasn't gotten the news yet.

A person and a dog stand at the edge of a clear lake, flanked by a pine forest and a distant snowy mountain.A blue lake surrounded by dense evergreen trees and snow-covered mountains beneath a partly cloudy sky.A child, a person, and two dogs walk on a dirt path through a pine forest under a blue sky with clouds.A child in a pink hat and boots walks on a sunny dirt path, with a person and dog in the foreground.Two people and a dog stand on a lake beach with a dense pine forest and snowy mountains behind them.Two people and two dogs on a rocky lake shore with mountains and a cloudy sky in the background.Two people stand on rocks in shallow lake water, with two dogs nearby and a forested mountain in the background.An adult and a child with two dogs on a rocky lake shore with a forested mountain and buildings in the background.

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