Yeah something people dont realize is a lot of big cities on the American west are built right at the foot of huge mountain ranges. People tend to get themselves onto shit because there will be expanses of wilderness the size of a small European countries that are easily accessible from a trailhead in a realitivley suburban area.

It will be a warm summer day at the trailhead but once you pop over the first ridge it will be a blizzard. The place where the donner party happend. One of the snowiest places in the usa. Is like just over an hour from Sacramento