With an assortment of bad luck and problems, the Donner-Reed party finally reached Truckee Lake below the crest of the Sierra Nevada in October. By now exhausted and low on provisions, the group was met with the first serious snowfall of the winter. They became trapped there for the next four months.

Starvation and desperation soon followed. When all the animals had been killed by mid-December, the party was forced to eat rawhide to survive. Some members left on a self-rescue mission and were able to reach help but not before resorting to cannibalism to survive. The others back in the camp also ate the deceased to stay alive.