Journeys›Photograph

Thanksgiving Day at Donner Lake

·Truckee, California·#winter#snow#lake tahoe#nature photography#landscape
A winter scene with a lake reflecting cloudy skies, snow-covered mountains, and a snowy shoreline with red buoys.

Thanksgiving morning up in Truckee, and the first thing to do was walk down to Donner Lake. Fresh snow on everything — the rocks along the shore, the driftwood, the beach itself — and the water still open, gray under the cloud cover.

We followed the creek back through the trees, where the snow was untouched except for animal tracks along the bank. A pair of ducks were working the still water there, barely making a ripple.

By midday the clouds had burned off and the whole lake changed. Blue sky, the peaks at the west end white all the way down, and mist still hanging over the far shore where the sun hadn't reached it yet. The geese were out in numbers, dozens of them drifting near the rocks in the shallows. The water was clear enough to see the stones and pinecones on the bottom a good way out.

Cold enough that steam was coming off the surface where the sun hit it. We walked the shoreline until it was time to head back for dinner. The geese didn't move for anyone.

A wide view of a large lake with red buoys, snow-covered ground, and forested mountains under a cloudy sky.A dark river flows through a snowy forest with pine trees, rocks, and ducks swimming.A narrow stream winds through a snowy evergreen forest with trees reflected in the water.A wide lake with ducks and geese, snow-covered mountains, and a rocky shore under a blue sky with some mist.Calm lake reflecting snow-covered mountains, evergreen forests, and a blue sky, with ducks on the water and some mist.Bright sun over a misty lake reflecting forested hills, with a rocky shore in the foreground.Clear lake reflects snow-covered mountains and pine trees, with ducks swimming and rocks visible in the shallow water.A snow-covered forest with tall evergreen trees, a dark river, and sun shining through the branches.

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