minutemen

Donner Lake Campout Information July 23, 2008

Donner Lake is a California State Park. That means just about everything is provided. Water, Picnic, fire rings, bathrooms, showers and back in car drive ways (no hauling gear up a hill for those of you who went to Carr Lake). The Donner Party Memorial and museum is within walking distance of our campsites. There is also a nature trail that could be helpful for trying to identify 10 plants for the scout rank requirements. State Parks are usually very clean and well kept. There are bear boxes that we MUST use (due to any number of different creatures). We will probably want to keep ice chests in our vehicles at night.

Directions: I – 80 East toward Reno. Take the Donner Pass Road offramp. You will have just come over Donner Pass, and will have gone to the far East end. Don’t worry. Donner Pass Road is the one you want. Next, turn Right at the offramp stop sign, and follow the signs to Donner Memorial State Park and Monument (or something along those lines). You will turn Left into the museum parking lot, and the gate for the campground is right there.

• We have 4, eight person campsites. Each site can have 2 cars parked for free

• Our Campsites are registered under 2 different names:

Jon *** ***, ***

Judy *** ***, ***

*** due to security reasons we cannot give out the numbers nor the last names.

• We need to try to limit the number of vehicles. I think it is at least $5.00 per night for additional vehicles (more then eight in our case). We can discuss carpooling, or a meeting point at the July 22 meeting.
• Check in is 2 P.M. on Friday July 25. This is the earliest we can get up there. Checkout is 12 P.M on Sunday July 27.
• Looks like the park gate closes at 11 P.M Each night
• Bring quarters if you want to take a shower
• Firewood is available from the campground. I have no idea on the cost. Bring your own if you don’t want to pay extra.
• There is a grocery store (Safeway, I think. Probably has Starbucks in it too) on the other side of the freeway, and gas station at the exit. Civilization is right there. Truckee is the next exit to the East as well.
• Weather: Most likely will be about 80 daytime, ~45 at night. Probably a little breezy in the evening. Plan accordingly.
• We need to have everyone’s vehicle information by the Tuesday July 22 meeting.
• Everyone must have at least a Class 1 medical form on file with the Troop. Ask me more if you don’t know what this is.
• First Aid is the plan for this trip. We will work on other stuff too. If you didn’t get your Totin Chip signed off last time, bring your knife and axe. We will try to squeeze that in too. We will also work on cooking, lashing, knots and fire building.
• We will again try to have a Scout’s kitchen area and a separate adult cooking area. Plan accordingly scouts, and bring your own cooking gear. REMEMBER: NO BORROWING THIS TIME OUT!!!

If anyone has any more suggestions or thoughts please let me know. Look forward to seeing you there.

Jon, Assistant Scoutmaster

For more information on this location, Google Donner State Park. Also, go to reserveamerica.com type in Donner Memorial State Park, go to the Campground map for that location. View general information about the park, the location of our campsites, etc.

Donner Memorial SP
12593 DONNER PASS ROAD
Truckee CA 96161
Information: (530