TruckeeLocal
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2022
- Messages
- 24
- Reaction score
- 654
From what I understand, it's not a 45 minute drive from the campground to the lodge so why would she say that?
Hi New Friends! First post here. As you see from my name, I live in Truckee. I'm very familair with the areas in question here. I'd like to give some local knowledge that I haven't yet read.
The driving distance from the Prosser Family Campground to the Lost Trail Lodge is 30 minutes according to google maps, but that's not the entire story. Once you exit I-80 and go past the Chevron, to the "Coldstream Trailhead" (On google maps), there's actually a locked gate that guests of the lodge and a couple of homeowners have a key to. There's a couple houses way back there by the lodge. During the daylight hours the public CAN drive back there, but they have to go through the Donner Lake Campground. They'd have to pay or talk their way through at the entrance. Most of Coldstream Drive is state park land, and the back of the canyon where the lodge is located is NF land, some of the dirt roads out by the lodge lead to more NF land. You technically won't be charged a fee if you're driving through the campground to access the NF land, but will be charged if you're using state park land.... it's the honor system. In the spring and fall, the gate at coldstream canyon is unlocked.
The road after the locked gate is a fairly rough dirt road, it's very popular with locals for hiking and mountain bike riding. There's several mountain bike trails that begin or end in this vicinity. The distance from the gate to the lodge is 3.5 miles. There's also a very sketchy compound about 2/3s of the way to the lodge (Think hoarders, broken down cars, RVs, etc). Not sure who if anyone is lving there. About a half mile from the lodge you go through that concrete tunnel under the train tracks. Many guests of the lodge park before the tunnel and walk over the tracks to the lodge.
In terms of the camground at Prosser and the theories of the car going into the water. I've done a fair bit of fishing out there, with the water level receding in the summer, the dirt closest to the water becomes VERY soft and muddy. You sink up to your shins in most areas. I'd imagine if KR or someone attempted to drive her car into the lake it would get stuck prior to being submerged, just my opinion though. Maybe there's area with firmer ground, and there's a couple boat ramps in the area.
There's many miles of forest service roads (mostly dirt) in the area of the campground. You could technically leave the campground and not ever drive back to highway 89. You could make your way north to Sierraville, or east to Reno. I wonder how many of these roads have been serached for the missing car. In the summer, people camp off these roads, there's lots of dead-ends and remote areas to park a van, RV or hide a car. It's all "dispersed" camping, no registering or record keeping.
If I can answer questions, or take photos of any areas, let me know.