First, you need to find the height of the trailer's tongue when the trailer is level. Set up the trailer on flat pavement. Run the tongue jack up and down or prop it up on some scrap lumber until it's level. You can determine this by placing a carpenter's level on the tongue or by eyeballing the trailer from the side from a distance of about 50 feet. Measure from the ground to the top of the ball socket. Park the vehicle you'll use to tow the trailer on level ground too.
Two years ago, the Truckee-Donner Land Trust purchased the Summit Canyon area at the foot of the pass so that now the entire pass area is open space. The Old Lincoln Highway trail is now a great hike that winds down through the historic Donner Pass area.wo years ago, the Truckee-Donner Land Trust purchased the Summit Canyon area at the foot of the pass so that now the entire pass area is open space. The Old Lincoln Highway trail is now a great hike that winds down through the historic Donner Pass area.
It was at Fort Bridger that some eighty-seven members of the wagon train, including the Donner bothers and their families, decided to separate from the main body and travel this new route west. All of those who traveled the old route ended their journey safely. This was not the case with those who took the alternative path. The culprit was snow. As the Donner Party approached the summit of the Sierra Mountains near what is now Donner Lake (known as Truckee Lake at the time) they found the pass clogged with new-fallen snow up to six feet deep. It was October 28, 1846 and the Sierra snows had started a month earlier than usual.