Journeys›Photograph

Weekend of Sun and Fog at Donner Lake

·Truckee, California, United States·#sierra nevada#autumn#truckee#fog#donner lake
Tall pine trees frame a lake with distant mountains, a red car, and a winding road in the bright sun.

A weekend of sun and fog down at Donner Lake, and it kept trading one for the other. First afternoon was clear enough to see the whole ridgeline through the pines above Donner Pass Road, and by evening the clouds over the west end had gone orange while the water flattened out below them.

The second morning the fog had taken everything. From up in the trees you couldn't find the lake at all — just gray, and the tops of the firs going in and out of it. Walked through the woods while the sun chewed a hole in it from above, and inside an hour the whole thing had pulled back to one low bank sitting out over the far half of the water, fresh snow on the peaks behind it.

Down on the beach the shoreline was all cobble, water clear to the stones. The lake is only about three miles long and a half mile wide, held in by a moraine, and it sits just under 5,936 feet — it was Truckee Lake before it was Donner. By late morning the fog bank was still out there, refusing to finish burning off.

Silhouetted pine trees frame a sunset over a dark mountain and lake, with orange, pink, and blue clouds.A bright sun is visible through dense fog, silhouetting a line of trees above dark ground.Foggy forest with tall dark trees silhouetted against a bright sky, sunlight beaming through the mist.Sunbeams pierce through a dense, misty pine forest, highlighting a winding dirt path.Dense pine forest with bright sunbeams cutting through mist, illuminating trees against a clear blue sky.A wide lake with a rocky shore, evergreen mountains, and distant snow-capped peaks with low fog under a clear blue sky.A calm lake reflects blue sky, surrounded by tree-covered mountains, some with snow and low-lying fog.Panoramic view of a lake with sun reflection, forested mountains, distant fog over water, and a rocky shore.

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