When I first heard the story of Alferd Packer, it was as a short story in an English class. We were supposed to critique it, and I said it was just too unbelievable, only to find that it was actually a true story.

The snack shop at the Tahoe-Donner Cross-Country Ski Area was long called the Donner Party Cafe, but they apparently got tired of being asked what was in the hamburgers, and changed it to the Alder Creek Cafe--less obvious, that's where the Donner Party camped out. And we are convinced that there is a rule in the Tahoe-Donner Homeowners Association that every cabin there must contain a copy of "Ordeal by Hunger."