Donner Lake lies on the eastern side of Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of Northern California. It was near Donner Lake that the ill fated Donner Party camped during the winter of 1846 & 1847 when their covered wagon emmigration to California was stopped here by heavy snow.
The angled line on the hillside to the left of the lake marks the route of Interstate 80, the main east/west highway across the United States. Further left is the rainbow bridge of the old two-lane Highway 40. The angled line to the right of the lake is the original trans-continental railway that is still in use today. Further to the right you can see that the railway tracks are covered with "snow sheds" to protect the line from blockage by snow.
When I took this photo, it was a beautiful spring day with temperature of 65 deg F at an elevation of 7,000 ft.
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