God's grace is not the light
at the end of the tunnel.
It's the light that
guides us through it.
...Author Unknown
I was invited to join a friend on a hike in the Sierra Nevada mountains through the abandoned Donner Pass Summit Tunnels, built in 1868. The series of tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.
I actually got up at 4am (unheard of for me) and met my friend at 6:45am to get an early start. There were several tunnels, all very different, and many filled with graffiti. Every so often a tunnel opened up to vistas and great views of Donner Lake and the Donner Summit Bridge. We walked through several tunnels but did not finish all of them...at least one remained, if not more. We turned around and walked back again through the tunnels to where we parked the car.
We then drove along one side of Donner Lake and into Truckee for a light lunch. After that, we hit traffic from road construction so it took us an hour longer to return to Sacramento.
After being a shut in for 5 months, I was so sore and exhausted from walking over 6 miles, it hurt when I moved the next day!
you got out with style (or a sort) the views that greeted you as each tunnells ended was not doubt what kept you going. Wishing you a quick recovery ready for more adventures.
Impressive exposure. I might have to check this out. I'll be spending a fair amount of time in the area since next year's gathering among my Harley friends will be in the Tahoe area. Must do some scouting ahead of time!
