Truckee
The North - California
Restaurant Tip: During our visit to Truckee in September 2019, we loved it at Jax at the Tracks very much. Here you can find everything your burger heart desires in a historic diner.
Coffee Tip: A delicious coffee was served at the Wagon Train Coffee Shop.
Our visits: So far 1 visit in September 2019
Truckee Old Town
Description: Truckee was founded in 1863 as a railroad station. Today, the town lives mainly from year-round tourism, because even in winter the mountains offer numerous opportunities for recreation. The proximity to Lake Tahoe and the Olympic town of Squaw Valley does the rest.
Our rating: We were totally surprised how much we liked especially the Old Town of Truckee. There are nicely preserved houses with nice little stores and cafés. The little town invites you for a little stroll.
Donner Pass/China Wall
Description: Donner Pass is a Sierra Nevada mountain pass (2151m) west of Truckee. It offers a railroad and several roads a crossing over the mountains. As is usually the case with passes, they offer great views down into the valley.
Approaching from Truckee, just before the top of the pass, you can admire the China Wall. This stone wall was built by Chinese railroad workers, without mortar, to support the mountain cut between two tunnels. The wall is over 150 years old. Below, a memorial stone commemorates the many workers who died here during the construction of the railroad.
Our rating: Beautiful views and thus beautiful photo opps are worth a trip here. We can definitely recommend a tour over the pass.
Donner Pass Railroad Tunnel
Description: The Donner Pass tunnels were built in the 19th century for the first railroad to cross the Sierra Nevada. The 15-month construction involved mainly Chinese workers, who cut the tunnels out of stone using dynamite and manpower. On June 18, 1868, the first train was able to cross the Sierra Nevada. The railroad line was used until 1993.
Now the tunnels are abandoned and can be visited. There are always voices that say that the tunnels are on private property and may not be entered. But there are nowhere signs that prohibit access.
There are several ways to enter the tunnels. Firstly, there is an access directly from the Donner Pass. Coordinate: Latitude 39.316697, Longitude -120.330019. Here the access is easy and level. Another access is from the parking lot below the China Wall. Here you just hike straight up the rocks. There are cairns for orientation. This path is short but partly steep and slippery.
Our rating: We enjoyed hiking through the tunnels here. It's a little spooky in parts and very often very dark. For this reason, we recommend everyone to take a flashlight. The ground is very uneven and sometimes unpleasantly gravelly. Since there are tunnel sections that have no light, we were very grateful to our flashlights for their service.
In all the tunnels we visited, there were sometimes more sometimes less good grafittis on the walls. Finding and discovering them was fun. The light we brought with us is also very helpful for this purpose.
A great, rather unusual, hike that we enjoyed very much and can recommend to everyone.
