Nitpick: when the Donner Party got snowed in, they were already back on a well travelled route, their problem was just that taking the supposed "shortcut" (the

Nitpick: when the Donner Party got snowed in, they were already back on a well travelled route, their problem was just that taking the supposed "shortcut" (the "Hastings cutoff" - map: https://www.historynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/donner-party-map-3.jpg https://www.historynet.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/donner...) delayed them so much that they weren't able to pass the Sierra Nevada while the weather still allowed it. The reason no one stumbled upon them was that no one was foolish enough to attempt crossing the mountains at that time of the year anymore (and, if they had attempted it, they would have ended up in the same situation as the Donner Party).