Donner Pass Are Ready For The Challenge

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:16]What's up? What's up? What's up? This your boy Z Dog and I'm back with another video, man. So today I am leaving Reno, Nevada, heading toward uh San Francisco area. I got to go through Sacramento, but I have to go over I think it's pronounced Donner's Pass, Donner's Peak.

[00:00:46]And man, when I tell you it is this is about to be a rodeo. Uh, this is going to be my first time having to chain up. Hopefully, they let me through.

[00:01:01]Uh, man, >> any of the three left lanes.

[00:01:06]>> I'm I'm really curious of how this is going to turn out. I got plenty of diesel. I got food in the truck. And man, the rest is what it is. I'm I'm I'mma see what happens. They going to either let me through or they won't. Uh but hopefully they do let me through but I can get to my load and get it picked up on time. Uh in the meantime, man, if you need a truck, you know where to go to.

[00:01:36]Go on over to Lone Mountain website. The most legit Lone Mountain website out there, man. When I tell you they are awesome. Check out their website and then on there you're going to see different inventories of trucks. Look at the down payment and the monthly payment so you can find your next truck.

[00:02:28]All right, man. We got uh we got a little bit of time before we get to the uh the treachery.

[00:02:36]Hopefully uh hopefully we can get over this pass.

[00:02:41]Man, I am so concerned with with them letting trucks through. I was watching live webcam footage of travel and it wasn't a lot uh of of motion. It's a lot of trucks out there, but not a lot of motion. So, I called All right then. Just right there in front of me. So, I called uh California Highway Patrol um truck division or commercial truck uh division and I asked them what the um requirements were and if the road was open and they told me yes, the road is open, the requirements uh under the current I think it's R2 is uh for chain. So that's two on my drive and so there's one on the left drive, one on the right drive and then two on my trailer, one on the left tire. Total of four chains or chain devices. So I have snow socks for my big tires and I have chains for my um trailer tires.

[00:03:59]Never put on chains. never planned on putting on any chains. So, uh, man, this is this is a I say a unfortunate side of trucking, but I got to get out here and get this money. I got to get home for my cruise.

[00:04:20]And we going to get it, man. Hopefully, it it's it's 46°. Hopefully everything is warming up and by the time I get there they're like, "Man, you know what? Just fly on through. You're good."

[00:04:34]I won't even worry about the money I spent on the chain. I just I just want to get over the pass safely, slowly if need be, and uh get in the get in the uh to my destination to get my load picked up.

[00:04:51]Man, look at those beautiful ice covered, snow covered mountains that we're about to go across.

[00:04:59]Oh, indoor car wash. Interesting.

[00:05:10]Oh, police ahead. I see you. Thank you for the Google alert.

[00:05:18]Sometime it's accurate, sometime it's not.

[00:05:24]Yeah, I see the flashing lights up here.

[00:05:27]All right, so I just went through a chain check and he told me uh the requirements are minimum, which is four, which is what I have.

[00:05:44]All right, let's see how this uh Oh, this dude went around. He didn't even go through the chain check area.

[00:05:56]Oh, he big dog.

[00:05:59]Let's see who this fell is that went around. Might be super. He does something. DS Express.

[00:06:07]Okay. Well, hey, do what you do, big dog. DS Express. You probably you from California, so you you already know about this road, man. Look at the mountains, man. Leaving Reno, once I make it the first 70 miles, I'm good. after those 70 miles.

[00:06:38]Ah, I mean, it's it's clear. It's nothing to worry about. No big snow top mountains. Oh, man. Look at the stream down there.

[00:06:48]Oh, yeah.

[00:06:52]All right, let's get over Boomtown. Is that a casino?

[00:07:00]Boomtown. Free bingo. Wednesday nights.

[00:07:06]It's a lot of trucks over here.

[00:07:10]Must be a truck stop.

[00:07:16]All right, man.

[00:07:21]All right, dog team.

[00:07:24]If if I end up needing help, I need y'all to come push me.

[00:07:37]Man, that's a beautiful sight.

[00:07:42]All right, I got about 20 miles before I get to the drama. That's a set of chains in the road. Somebody lost them.

[00:08:02]Man, those mountains are beautiful.

[00:08:07]Not a good day to ride a motorcycle up this mountain, but still beautiful, man.

[00:08:18]I'm looking at that stream down there, man.

[00:08:23]I know it's cold, but it's such a beautiful site.

[00:08:32]Such a beautiful site. Like, you don't you don't see this back home.

[00:08:42]Not in the uh abundance that you'll see it here.

[00:08:48]So, we've crossed into California. We got about 14 miles before we hit the the bad stuff, but still beautiful sights up until the end.

[00:09:07]So amazing, man. Look at that.

[00:09:15]That's crazy. This is so late into the spring that it still looks like this, man.

[00:09:24]Unless this video comes out in the middle of the summer, but y'all know me.

[00:09:32]All right. The uh the sky is looking a different color now, man. No.

[00:09:39]H I wouldn't say that's a comforting look, but that gray.

[00:09:50]Yeah, that gray is uh something else.

[00:10:05]The temperature has dropped from I think like 42 to 38. So, it's still above freezing, but it's still cold.

[00:10:18]Definitely above freezing, but still cold.

[00:10:22]So, uh, man, this doesn't even look like it should even be real with I could expect this stuff in December, January, February.

[00:10:52]maybe even Mars. But good god, I think he's removing his snow spikes.

[00:11:02]I don't think they're chains that he got on the car. Oh, all trucks west carry chains. Gotcha.

[00:11:31]So, the chain laws in effect all the way through April 30th.

[00:11:39]And some more chains on the road. Somebody lost some chains here. And there go some more chains there. I missed this other uh projectile in the road, man. It was like twice the size of a ladder. I don't know what the heck it was, but it was in the dead center of the freaking road.

[00:12:04]I attempt to drop down to 36 now.

[00:12:09]Sheesh.

[00:12:11]Truckucky. Okay.

[00:12:15]All right, man. It's time to get it in.

[00:12:27]Got to try to find me a spot to pull into.

[00:12:38]All right, buddy. What you going to do?

[00:12:45]What they say? Crap or get off the toilet.

[00:12:52]Man, he lost his whole freaking tire back there. All right, I think I got a spot to pull into up here.

[00:13:11]Let's see.

[00:13:13]Are you f to pull forward, buddy?

[00:13:19]Come on.

[00:13:21]Come on, get out the road. There we go.

[00:13:32]There we go. Get me far enough out the road so I can let the next man in.

[00:13:45]There we go.

[00:13:49]All right, man.

[00:13:52]Let's see what uh let's see what this going to do. Somebody threw some chains away right there.

[00:14:26]First time ever breaking these bad boys out.

[00:14:35]It's so much easier easier to put the socks on. And I was trying to buy socks for my uh trailer, but they didn't have the correct size, so I had to go with the chains.

[00:15:10]And they'll self adjust so I don't have to worry about that part.

[00:15:32]All right.

[00:16:46]Probably going to need this key.

[00:16:52]All right.

[00:17:23]This should straighten itself out automatically, but uh we shall see.

[00:17:38]Chains on pretty tight both sides.

[00:17:45]This one got the locking system on it.

[00:17:49]Oh man.

[00:18:04]The uh snow socks require the speed limit to be under 20 m an hour. So uh until I pull them off, this is my speed.

[00:18:21]I think I got about six miles to go.

[00:18:51]Man, look like everybody want to pass me, but you know, I'm not too worried about that. I actually Googled the uh speed. It said not over 25. So, I'm like, and then I'm empty. So, I'm like, it's not as much weight on the tires, but the speed on this dry road would tear up my snow socks.

[00:19:15]Change probably could hold up a little better, but uh I'm okay with with going this pace.

[00:19:30]And you still can see snow falling from the the trees over here.

[00:19:44]Lake Tahoe.

[00:19:51]Man, it's a long line of guys trying to get chained up or trying to see if they even got chains.

[00:20:06]I was fortunate enough to be around uh truckers before I got on the road and heard the conversations and then the local guys was telling me what uh website to go to to see the current road conditions. So, I was prepared prior to getting on the road.

[00:21:02]All right, we see the uh historic Donner's Pass exit. So, I guess that puts us in the region of Donner's Pass.

[00:21:14]I need to get 17 16 more miles to be in the clear. Right now, they're saying it's about a 40 minute time to do that.

[00:21:28]We shall see.

[00:21:38]Now, if it was like snowing right now, like coming down bad or something, I would quickly be like, "Hey, man.

[00:21:47]I don't even supposed to be out here."

[00:21:50]But it's really sunny and shiny and I think it's just the remnants of what came through yesterday which is causing uh havoc.

[00:22:01]So we going to keep pushing it. I ain't in no rush to speed over these 15 miles. But at 15 miles an hour it should take an hour. Oh my god.

[00:22:23]But at 25 miles an hour to take 40 minutes.

[00:22:29]Dang, they right.

[00:23:09]Man, look at that view.

[00:23:29]Downgra next 40 Wow.

[00:23:48]So, this is where all the traffic is going to bag up at, man.

[00:23:53]Come on.

[00:24:00]All right, we got about three more miles to go before I believe we are in the clear.

[00:24:13]Y'all going to be like, uh, Z dog, we didn't even get to see a load on this video. I'll get y'all a load, man.

[00:24:20]Hopefully.

[00:24:21]Hopefully I can get y'all a load, man.

[00:24:28]Dude, if I wasn't working, give me a sled and I'll be probably almost unal alive myself out here cuz that looks a little dangerous. Those are rocks down there.

[00:24:41]No, I I wouldn't be sliding right there.

[00:24:44]I'll be sliding somewhere, just not right there.

[00:24:51]Right now, ETA got me getting there before 2:30, which I think might be the cut off. So, if everything stay good, I'm going to be blessed to to get it picked up today.

[00:25:05]That's going to be a win for me, man. I am up in these mountain when Jesus.

[00:25:20]All right. So, I I don't know if I showed y'all. I pulled over and snatched my chains off uh at the chain removal area cuz everything else is pretty much easy flowing with the exception of Man, the truck is jacked up. With the exception of a accident up the road here. At least it's being logged as an accident. I don't know. I'm not there.

[00:25:44]But uh once we the traffic get around that, the rest should be smooth sailing. So I'm 131 miles out.

[00:25:56]Trying to get there in less than uh less than an hour and 20 minutes.

[00:26:13]Thank you.

[00:26:18]You know you Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

[00:27:12]You always you hey hey hey Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

[00:27:56]You freak you.

[00:28:05]you. I bless you.

[00:28:09]I you You you.

[00:28:24]You beautiful mountains, man. Southern California.

[00:28:59]Way station closed ahead. Can't ask for more than that.

[00:29:05]Good deal.

[00:29:15]Scales closed. Do not enter. Man, you ain't got no worries. I am not going to enter no scale that I think is closed.

[00:29:24]Heck, you you better hope I enter that thing when it's open.

[00:29:30]Hit you with that. My bad. I ain't try to uh scoop by you. Didn't know y'all was open. Oh yeah, that's a little scale. Little bitty scale house.

[00:29:49]Oh man.

[00:30:01]Almost time for some fuel.

[00:30:05]Speed 55. Guess I don't have to worry about that. Who we got here, Mr. Motorcycle Man?

[00:30:23]I'm about to get off in a mile anyway, so I can take it slow.

[00:30:30]Kingman, I was just here a few days ago or at least passing through here. No, I shut down right outside the city and um headed on up to Reno on that last load.

[00:30:49]So that you see I shut down in Kingsman on Friday night.

[00:30:56]So Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. So I was here like four days ago.

[00:31:11]Arizona, man. You don't get to see mountain top like this on in the rest of the world, man. This is only here this side of the country.

[00:31:38]All right, I'm less than 150 from my next and final stop for the night.

[00:31:48]>> Take the ramp ahead.

[00:31:51]>> All right, man. It's time for some of this 659 petroleum.

[00:32:16]Yeah, let's not uh waste none of this stuff.

[00:32:22]None at all.

[00:32:30]Like that color, that teal.

[00:32:37]Man, this truck is filthy.

[00:32:40]Y'all know how I feel about it, man.

[00:32:46]You got to keep your equipment clean.

[00:32:52]Check the load.

[00:32:54]This tight.

[00:33:01]That's tight.

[00:33:03]Tires look good.

[00:33:05]You can listen for air leaking out because it will air it back up if it was Oh yeah.

[00:34:02]Not sure why he got his blinkers going on. And uh he he doing like 65 miles an hour.

[00:34:08]I can see if he was down to 40 or under, but dude, you going highway speed.

[00:34:32]Getting my early morning run on.

[00:34:36]It's uh I've been rolling for about 10 minutes or so now. It was about to be 5:00 local time. I'm yarning, but I did get a full 8 hours.

[00:34:52]So, uh that's just part of getting up early, man.

[00:35:00]I don't know what you call that moon. Is is that a a eighth of a moon?

[00:35:07]I know it's not a a quarter moon or a half moon or a whole moon.

[00:35:25]Time to go get my morning coffee.

[00:35:50]All right, here we go.

[00:36:48]Come in.

[00:37:14]You have it.

[00:38:46]Boy, she looking good over there.

[00:38:50]Lit up.

[00:38:59]Yep.

[00:39:02]I can turn off my uh super night lights now.

[00:39:07]Man, she need a wash. I'm going to try to get a wash today, but uh my attempt may be a failure.

[00:39:16]I'm not waiting in no line.

[00:39:26]You bring you Hey, hey, hey.

[00:40:05]you.

[00:40:08]I you Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, I don't you I You are I You You >> All right, and trying to get this load unloaded right quick so I can get out of here.

[00:42:38]saw This one I might as well throw it away.

[00:43:54]Look at that trash.

[00:44:03]I said it.

[00:44:07]Yeah. I got to find me some straps from somewhere else, man. Cuz I can't keep giving them money and and every strap I get is tearing up.

[00:44:37]Oh, Heat. Heat.

[00:45:39]Heat. Heat.

[00:46:00]I hate I didn't get a chance to get a truck wash, but it just didn't work out.

[00:46:06]I was trying for about three days, but had to get this load unloaded.

[00:46:30]All right, I got it.

[00:46:32]>> Boy told me he used to work with you, man.

[00:46:34]>> Who that?

[00:46:35]>> Yeah, he saw he just pulled the [ __ ] up on said you going to win big time.

[00:46:39]>> Talking about on YouTube. Yeah, he just pull you up.

[00:46:41]>> Who said he used to work with me?

[00:46:42]>> Uh, he maint >> uh TMC.

[00:46:48]>> Probably. So, we used to work sometime.

[00:46:58]>> Yeah. This all I need right here.

[00:47:01]I I don't know what uh if you need all this.

[00:47:05]>> You don't need none of that. Okay. All right, man. I appreciate you. I don't know.

[00:47:17]He don't know this dude. I mean, he man.

[00:47:22]>> Yeah.

[00:47:26]>> You feel me? Wait.

[00:47:29]>> Oh, [ __ ] >> Hell. I I was waiting on the first person that came through.

[00:47:37]>> All right, dog team. Man, I'd have made it back home safe and sound. The White Walkers parked. I'm about to get ready to go on a vacation, man. So, appreciate y'all checking out these videos, man.

[00:47:50]Like, share, subscribe, turn on that notification bell, and join the dog team. So, until the next time, baby, keep it trucking.