Yesterday we did a quick day trip up to the Donner Pass area of Tahoe to see if we could find some snow for Thor to play in. The good news is that he had a blast, and we had just as much fun watching him play. The bad news is that there is not much snow out there at all. Although winter started off with a bang in December, January has been a bust and it shows.

Trip Report

We parked at the Donner Sno Park and hiked south on the PCT to a nice viewpoint.

The snow was just deep enough to cover the trail and was well packed.

Looking back at Castle Peak’s south slope.

Thor seems happy about his first time in the snow!

The snow was too consolidated to need snowshoes. It was iced over in the shade and slushy in the sun, so my old Kahtoolas were a great tool to keep from sliding on my butt.

Thor had his first game of Snowball Fetch, and didn’t quite understand what was happening when the snowball would fall apart upon impact. He would then search for a suitable replacement to proudly bring back to me.

It was a quick up and back trip with many more hours in the car than in the snow, but still worth it! I’d say it was a success for Thor, too. He crashed hard after his first day in the snow!