You may know the story of the infamous Donner party
The Donner party was a group of pioneers who thru a series of mishaps tried to travel over the Sierra Nevada range just North of Lake Tahoe a bit late in the fall of 1846. Another person had been stranded near a small lake on the pass the year before, so there was already a small cabin there which they sheltered in. Apparently they did not suffer from the cold, but after an arduous journey thru the great basin desert they arrived at the top of mountain to heavy snow and were low on food. Read more about the Donner party
The immigrants were from the Midwest where the winters can be harsh, so they felt they knew how to deal with cold weather, but they were un-prepared to deal with 22.5 feet (6.9 meters) of snow. They also were famers, not hunters skilled at finding food and suspicious of the indigenous people who lived on the land. They were late on the road and decided to push over the mountains from near present day Reno, Nevada. This was a time when people had wagons drawn by oxen (cattle), thin leather shoes and heavy woolen clothes. Eventually some members of the the group resorted to cannibalism. But not all and not all with the same intentions.
There are many theories and stories on what went wrong. Studying the story of the Donner party may help to enlighten us to survival problem solving. But they might have benefited to have Tiffany Stanton in their party. Tiffany is a med student who went on a three day trip in the mountains in April 2025 and got caught in a snow avalanche. Despite being injured, cold and alone she survived by knowing what to forage and by trying to find her way out. Here is the SFgate story. A Georgia woman spent three weeks lost in winter in the sierras
What can we learn from Tiffany to survive?
Know what is edible. Tiffany survived by eating wild leeks. Other than some some snow blindness she did pretty well and found an unlocked cabin where she was rescued. There is one account that someone, probably a native American, left a bunch of wild onions on the door step of the Donner party cabin. This means the local tribes knew the immigrants were up there and were hungry.
I wasn’t initially sure I’ve be able to survive
But learning that pine tree bark and needles make a nice tea, that I can chew grass and eat dandelions makes me more confident. I understand the Donner party did have pine tree tea, as well as dogs, pack animals and leather which they ate. One group of people did try to walk out and resorted to murdering their Indian guides and consuming them. The Breen family who were Irish immigrants did not loose any of their members and did not resort to cannibalism. There are stories that the last man left at the lake camp may have become deranged and cannibalized the other survivors.
Know what to eat if lost in the wilderness:
If there is snow on the ground, you might find edible plants at a lower elevation.
If it is very hot and dry you might look for shady spots or springs
- Leeks/onions
- Miners lettuce
- Cattail hearts
- Early berries
- Pine nuts
- Grass (chew and spit out)
- Dandelions
- Clover
- Desert plants that contain water
- Small birds and mammals
- Insects, snails, crustaceans
Before you hike, learn how to BeReady if something goes wrong
- Tell someone where you are going, have a plan for when they should be concerned
- Wear clothes and food wear that are appropriate for the conditions
- Download maps of the area you will be hiking in so that you can use GPS in your cell phone if you have no signal. Conserve battery power
- Carry light snacks, water and a purification stick or bottle, extra clothes, fire starting tools, survival blanket even on short hikes and a carry a whistle.
- Carry Bear Spray for wild animals and for the human kind.
- Know what is can be foraged in the area you will be in, Never eat, or let your kids eat, something you cannot identify with one hundred percent certainty, and never eat wild mushrooms without expert training and knowledge.
- If you don’t have a clear direction of were to go to find help, stay put.
- Build a smokey signal fire if possible
- If you decide to find your way out be aware of direction and the motion of the sun. Follow streams to find civilization
- If you travel, leave evidence and trail markers to show you were there
- Seek shelter at night, it can get cold at higher elevations and in the desert
- Travel during the coolest part of the day in the desert
- Stay optimistic, stay calm and don’t give up!