Let me tell you from first-hand experience of more than 20 years, Homeless folks living in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are some hardy sourdoughs. I spent a winter living in a pecker-pole tepee just east of Buck's Lake, right outside of Meadow Valley, CA for an entire winter and barely survived it.
Snow in the Tahoe area can be 30 feet deep in places. Winter storms come roaring in from the Pacific, with nothing but 2,000 miles of room to build speed and fury until they run smack into the western flank of the Sierras. As the weather begins to climb those hills, it picks up speed and starts dumping snow in feet an hour, from Blue Canyon to Truckee.
Whiteouts, avalanches, rockslides and 100+ mph winds blast through those passes during those storms and if you ain't got your wits together, you're liable to end up dead.
Whiteouts, avalanches, rockslides and 100+ mph winds blast through those passes during those storms and if you ain't got your wits together, you're liable to end up dead.
If you think I'm prone to a bit of exaggeration about this check out the most famous homeless folks of all, the Donner Party, who were camped just north of Tahoe on the outskirts of Truckee near what is now called Donner lake.
I'll spare you the long version of the story of the Donners and their "ill-fated" cannibalistic adventure in the Sierra, there is a ton of stuff written about them and one of the best accounts,
besides the actual diary of Patrick Breen, (one of the members who weathered the winter with the party) is Irving Stone's Men to Match My Mountains.
I'll spare you the long version of the story of the Donners and their "ill-fated" cannibalistic adventure in the Sierra, there is a ton of stuff written about them and one of the best accounts,
(Image courtesy of
http://www.met.
homepages/cbcle
besides the actual diary of Patrick Breen, (one of the members who weathered the winter with the party) is Irving Stone's Men to Match My Mountains.
Rather, I would point out that the famous statue of George Donner and his family at Donner State park illustrates just how high the snow was in this area. See the big pillar the statue of the family itself is standing on? Well, where their feet meet the top of that pillar is the depth of the snow in that area during the period they were forced to camp there (if memory serves me correctly, it is 26 feet from ground to heels). You can actually walk through the park and at various places, find trees that have been cut about 25 fee up from the ground. These were used by the members to provide firewood for their encampments.
(Image courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Memorial_State_Park)
Ain't it funny how less than 200 years ago homeless folk all across our country were looked upon as great explorers, adventurers, rugged individualists and self-sufficient masters of their own life....
Homeless people evicted from Tahoe camp
Saturday, November 15, 2008
(11-15) 14:36 PST South Lake Tahoe, CA (AP) --
Police have evicted homeless people from a makeshift camp in South Lake Tahoe following complaints from the public and a stabbing.
Police have evicted homeless people from a makeshift camp in South Lake Tahoe following complaints from the public and a stabbing.
A 30-year-old transient has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in the Nov. 6 stabbing of a homeless man in the area.
The victim remains in intensive care at a Reno hospital with stab wounds.
Also in recent weeks, police received complaints from nearby businesses and residents about the homeless camp.
Police say they encourage the homeless to leave Tahoe for warmer climates, but there are some who stay year-round.
