Donner Summit Historical Society Poster 2015

"Traveling through the snowsheds was anything but “pleasant going” as he traveled the “gloomy interior” that was both “dark and smoky.” Groping his way over the rough surface was not pleasant. When he heard a train he’d “proceed to occupy as small an amount of space as possible against the side, and wait for the “smoke-emitting monsters” to pass. The engines “fill every nook and corner of the tunnel with dense smoke, which creates a darkness by the side of which the natural darkness of the tunnel is daylight in comparison. Here is a darkness that can be felt ; I have to grope my way forward, inch by inch ; afraid to set my foot down until I have felt the place, for fear of blundering into a culvert…” “I pause every few steps to listen” for an approaching train."

Thomas Stevens, 1855
first person to bicycle over Donner Summit, first to bicycle across the ccountry and first to bicycle around the world.
see our March, '15 Heirloom

In recent years bicycling has become a very popular activity on Donner Summit. Road bikers love the ascents from either side and love even more the steep descents. On a nice day there are lots of road bicyclists conquering the Summit on Old Highway 40. Mountain bikers likewise bike the summit with the Hole in the Wall Trail being very popular.

Today's bicyclists are not the first to enjoy the challenge of biking on the summit. The first bicyclist to cross the summit with his bike was Thomas Stevens. Then for good measure he was the first to cross the continent with his bike and then he went around the world. You can read about his adventures in our book review of his book, Around the World By Bicycle in our March, '15 Heirloom. It's a good story. It's also on our book review page.

Another good summit bicycling story is about the Wilson Family. Returning to San Francisco by steamship after having biked to L.A. they found the railroad was on strike. They lived in Reno and wanted to go home. So they took their bikes, with their three-year-old on the handlebars, and biked over Donner Summit. That will be in an Heirloom someday and if the link is not made here when it is check our article index PDF.

Our March, '14 Heirlloom has a story about two fellow who took a nice bike/camping trip over the Summit in 1901. The photo album of their trip was donated to the DSHS.

Our 2015 poster celebrates the various bicyclists who have crossd the summit under their own power.