Donner Memorial State Park

100 miles east of Sacramento via Interstate 80, and is within the town of Truckee,  just west of downtown on the south side of the freeway. Camping, boating, fishing, cross country skiing and snowshoe. Emigrant Trail Museum is the biggest draw.  A learn all about the original native inhabitants of the area and the treacherous journey through this narrow that challenged immigrants from across America who came seeking a new life or California gold. The displays and a restored cabin shed light on the suffering of the famous Donner party in 1846, and their tragic decent into cannibalism.  Or, take a hike to see first hand how enormous “bubbles” of magma became giant granite outcroppings, and how huge upheavals thrust the earth’s crust up to form the sierra’s face.