Four: California, Donner Pass, June 2, 2017

There is still snow at the top of Donner Pass in the Sierra Nevada when a westbound Union Pacific container job cracks the summit. The snow is a welcome relief from six years of drought that gripped California and much of the west. Storm after storm this past winter piled up snow so high it still reached the roof tops of sheds in some places.

Donner Pass is a great place to see a train. This was my second time here. (I came here the first time in 2000.) The trains are still moving slow and grinding their way to the top. The old snow shed just to the west of where I took this photo is now in disuse and the line has long since left its original "Gold Spike" path. You can now explore many of these historic sites that were blasted out of the rock back in the 1860s.