Your decision to accompany James Reed and Walter Herron raises some eyebrows but you are glad to get away from the increasingly slow-moving group and press on ahead. Unfortunately the journey turns out to be very difficult: you are all unsuccessful at hunting and by the time you reach the Sierra Nevada Mountains you have eaten all your supplies and are surviving chiefly on wild onions and beans. Herron wants to kill the horses for food but you and Reed persuade him that you need them.


Finally you make it across the Mountains and in Bear Valley where you have the wonderful fortune of meeting a party of settlers near Johnson's Ranch, the beginning of civilization in California. They share some food with you and while you are there you meet Charles Stanton, who is on his way back to the Donner Party with seven mules of provisions and two Indians guides. Stanton is delighted to see the three of you and you quickly exchange news.


Reed tactfully explains that you three were sent ahead of get supplies, leaving out the part about him murdering John Snyder. Stanton tells you that William McCutchen has fallen ill and is resting at Fort Sutter. Reed decides to press onto Fort Sutter with Herron to get more supplies. Stanton suggests that you accompany him back to the Donner Party.


What do you do?

You travel onto Sutters Fort with Reed and Herron

You travel on to Fort Sutter and there you reunite with William McCutchen. He is recovering well with your illness and as with Stanton, James Reed tells him that he was sent on for supplies with you and Walter Herron. Herron learns that war has just broken out between the USA and Mexico decides to go off and fight but Reed and McCutchen intend to gather a few mules of supplies together and set off back to the Donner Party.


Unfortunately just a few days after Reed's arrival on the last day of the month it starts to snow, lightly around Fort Sutter but heavily in in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is very bad as it will mean that the Donner Party, which incidentally includes both Reed and McCutchen's wives and children, will be unable to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In Fort Sutter there is nothing you can do but watch as snow completely seals the valley, making it virtually impossible to cross. Despite this you, Reed and McCutchen soon set out on a mission to try and reach the stranded settlers.

Back into the Mountains...

Despite the unlikelihood of making it across the mountains you, James Reed and William McCutchen, the latter still suffering slightly from his illness, set off from Sutter's Fort to try to reach the Donner Party. Reaching Johnson's Ranch you are warned by the owner that it is impossible to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains when the passes are blocked by snow but feeling that you have to at least try you journey on. Unfortunately the owner is right.


Reaching the Sierra Nevada Mountain Pass with difficult you and your companions discover the snow does indeed makes crossing the mountains completely impossible. Nothing can force its way through it and after several days of struggling you are forced to turn back: there is nothing you can do now but wait until the spring when the snow melts and the Donner Party can be rescued. You can only hope their food supplies hold out until then and as you return to Sutter's Fort you can't help but feel relieved you aren't up there in the mountains with them.

You now you wait...

For three months you, James Reed and William McCutchen find ways to keep yourselves busy in California. Reed joins in the war against Mexico while you stay with McCutchen in Sutter's Fort. Near the end of January incredible news arrives: seven members of the Donner Party (William Eddy, William Foster, Sarah Foster, Sarah Fosdick, Mary Graves, Amanda McCutchen and Harriet Pike) have somehow managed to cross the mountains despite the snow and made it to Johnson's Ranch.


McCutchen is overjoyed to learn his wife has made it and you hasten to Johnson's Ranch. There you are shocked by what you see: the survivors are skeletal and so weak they can do nothing but eat and sleep. Eddy is the healthiest of them and he mutters a terrible story about blizzards, the deaths of eight of their companions and being forced to eat the bodies of the dead to survive. He is certain it is the same up in the mountains where the rest of the Donner Party is stranded.


As McCutchen's two young children and Reed's entire family are still up in the mountains the three of you immediately begin planning an expedition to rescue them. Another rescue effort called the First Relief is being prepared at Sutter's Fort that will be ready sooner but Reed and McCutchen have the advantage that both of them already know the route. Eddy is determined to accompany the First Relief but he is still weak from his terrible journey out of the mountains.


Which expedition party do you want to accompany?