Donner Lake is a popular body of water offering many recreational activities outside Truckee. Accessible from Interstate 80 and the Old Highway 40, Donner Lake is .6 miles wide, 2.7 miles long and 200 feet deep. Here people boat, wakeboard, fish, sail, use personal watercraft and paddle from one end to the other until the wind kicks up.
I always have a good time when I go to Donner Lake … it’s always a different experience.
Take the Donner Pass Road exit from I-80; drivers going east will take a right onto Donner Pass Road and drivers going west will take a left. Donner Memorial State Park, on the eastern side of the lake, offers the Emigrant Trail Museum and the infamous Pioneer Monument. The park offers more than 100 campsites, with many beach areas and day-use sites. Keep driving south past the Tahoe Donner Beach Club Marina, which is for members only, to the Loch Leven Lodge and Donner Pines shopping center.
Follow Kayla’s summer exploits:
Beach hopping by bike on the West Shore
Discovering sun, sand and summer fun at Zephyr Cove
Sandwiched between the shopping center and the boat ramp is Shoreline Park with picnic tables, a restroom, access to a fishing dock, a tiny launch ramp for human-powered vessels and about 15 parking spaces. There were only a few available spots at 8:30 a.m. on an early August morning and I got there just in time; the lot filled up by 8:45 a.m.
The air was crisp, the sun shining, the lake was calm and after pumping up my inflatable standup paddleboard I was in the water paddling north back to the state park. I passed a number of public docks, most of which had already been claimed. As I approached the long sandy beach in Tahoe Donner Beach Club Marina, people were swimming and playing in the water or pitching shade coverings on the shoreline.
Circumnavigating the lake, I found China Cove with a little island in the center and a heavily forested channel. I paddled a couple hundred yards to the end, gazing below into what looks like an overgrown underwater lawn. The channel stopped at a shack managed by Donner Lake Watersports and the friendly staff was renting people kayaks, paddle boats, personal watercraft and SUPs.
I jumped off my board and walked into the campground. People were jogging and meandering on the hardpacked dirt path. I found a Porta Potty that was well-maintained.
I navigated back to my SUP and got on the water as the campground started to wake up. The wind had picked up a bit and so I paddled back toward the other side of the lake. Twenty minutes later I was back at Public Pier No. 22 next to Shoreline Park enjoying a frosty beverage after an hour of battling a headwind on my board.
I relaxed on the dock for a bit, then loaded my SUP back into my car and drove south. I passed Donner Lake Boat Ramp, a gift shop, Little Truckee Ice Creamery, lodging properties and The Pub at Donner Lake. Some people continue straight on Donner Pass Road to Highway 40 toward Donner Summit, but I turned left onto South Shore Drive where you can find the public West End Beach. Here it’s just as busy as the eastern end. For a fee, you can use the beach, which contains a large beach, many grassy areas, two playgrounds, a snack bar and restrooms, picnic tables with grills and water toys available for rent.
I drove past the beach through a busy neighborhood for a mile or so. The road crept up the ridge, offering beautiful vistas of the lake. The road eventually dead ends but continues via a smaller paved bike path that connects to the far end of Donner Memorial State Park.
It was midafternoon and I was starving. I drove back around to Donner Pass Road and stopped at Donner Lake Kitchen for lunch. It offers a full menu of breakfast and lunch items; I eventually settled on the Sierra-style eggs benedict and ordered it to go. I was tempted to get one of the 20 different flavors of mimosas or Moscow mules, but kept with water instead.
My meal tasted every bit as good as it looked; I ate half of it in the car before I even left the parking lot.
Heading home, I thought about how I always have a good time when I go to Donner Lake and how it’s always a different experience. This is the place where I went wakeboarding under a full moon, where my friend Josh drank too much tequila on a pier and got so sunburned he looked like a lobster for months and where I tearfully hugged one of my best friend’s goodbye at her going-away party held at West End Beach. It’s a fun place to hang out with friends but it’s also a good idea to come prepared for anything — and where points of interest such as “Donner Party Island” take on a new meaning.
