The Frog Lake Backcountry Huts are Now Open!

If you’ve ever wanted to experience the thrill of the backcountry, here is your opportunity, as the overnight huts at Frog Lake are now open to the public.

Recently purchased by the Truckee Donner Land Trust and its partners at the Northern Sierra Partnership, the Frog Lake Huts are located near Donner Summit at 7,600 feet above sea level.

Accessible by foot or bike in the summer and by ski, snowboard or snowshoe in the winter, they offer a new Northern Sierra backcountry experience that had previously been closed to the public.

The surrounding “naturescape” is simply breathtaking with the 1,000-foot-high Frog Lake cliff rising up from across the Lake, sunlight illuminating it each morning.

The huts themselves are nestled back in a forest of late-seral red fir and Jeffrey pine making for a truly rewarding and very real mountain escape. The huts are modern and were built in the tradition of European sleeping huts. A commercial grade kitchen is available for meal prep.

Donner Summit receives an average of 411.5 inches of snow (10.45 m) per year, so it goes without saying that the skiing around Frog Lake is consistently top-quality. The terrain varies with multiple aspects and features ranging from steep chutes to mellow glades and open bowls.

The Truckee Donner Land Trust and its partners at the Northern Sierra Partnership – the Trust for Public Land and The Nature Conservancy – purchased Frog Lake, Red Mountain & Carpenter Ridge in June of 2020. Thanks to their organization and to public donation, roughly 3,000 acres of open space is now preserved and open to the public.

To learn more about the Frog Lake acquisition, click here.

To make a reservation, here.