OUTDOORS

Exploring the Abandoned Railroad Tunnels On Donner Summit

We got an interesting look at California’s history

The tunnels are covered in graffiti, inside and out. Photo taken by the author.

I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I came across a friend’s post. On his days off he had hiked through a series of abandoned railroad tunnels. These tunnels are located above the infamous Donner Lake.

“We’re going. We have to go see that!”

My husband was born and raised in Northern Nevada and he didn’t know about the tunnels. He wanted to check them out too. On our next day off together, we loaded up the dogs and headed towards Northern California.

We brought headlamps and a flashlight. Each dog had a tiny colorful light on their harness, which we used in the tunnels. A fellow hiker stopped to examine one of them, saying it was “ridiculously cool.”

In a stroke of pure genius, I wore my prescription sunglasses that day. I left my regular glasses at home, so I had to hike through the dark tunnels wearing dark glasses. That was fun. I’ll just say it added to the mystery and gave me more of a sense of adventure. Don’t do what I did.