Emigrant Gap, California

We had been seeing these starting in Sequoia but had no idea what they were.

Once we had our reservations for Snowflower Resort it got me to thinking.  Is there really such a thing as a Snowflower?  So I googled it.  Turns out we had seen a lot of them just didn't know what they were.

 Emigrant Gap gets it name from the gap in a ridge on the California Trail as it crosses the Sierra Nevada, to the west of what is now known as Donner Pass. Here the cliffs are so steep that, back in the 1840s, the pioneers on their way to California had to lower their wagons on ropes in order to continue.

Truckee

Jax at the Tracks Diner as seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

The Emigrant Trail in the Pioneer Days of California turned to the south at this point for approximately three miles then west across the summit of the Sierras about a mile south of the present railroad.

 It was here that the Donner party missed the trail owing to the early snows, resulting in the tragedy.

Colfax

Gold Rush era hydraulic mining nozzle