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Added by Jopie, at 20 July 2019
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5 Reviews
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15 November 2022
This area here in Soda Springs was especially beautiful after a recent ❄️ snow y day.
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28 September 2022
Very nice and quiet
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15 July 2020
Beautiful place, and very clean
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20 October 2019
Nice and quiet neighborhood of second homes in the Donner Area. On this day, right after a quick storm the reflection off the lake was magical. This is an area that has a Home Owner's Association and all of the neighbor's look out for each other. Be polite and respectful of their neighborhood and you can enjoy views of the lake. A little history about these lakes: Today Serene Lakes is a community made up mostly of second homes surrounding the 2 lakes that comprise Serene Lakes, BUT it does have an interesting history.
The two lakes which are joined together are called Lake Dulzura (the southern lake) and Lake Serena (the northern lake). It has been said that they were named by none other than Mark Twain!
Back in the “old days” wagon trains heading for California came right through today’s Serene Lakes basically following the route of Pahatsi Road out past the subdivision, past Kidd and Cascade Lakes, and down to Big Bend which is an exit on I-80.
The lakes were discovered during the building of the railroad. The first settler was Fitz William Redding Jr. who settled in 1866. He built a small cabin about where Lake Drive and Hemlock Drive intersect. He brought fish up and stocked the lakes. When Fitz died his family kept the land and started up the Summit Ice Co. on Ice Lakes about 1870. The ice house sat about where the boat ramp at Sierra Road is today. Ice was hauled to the railroad to keep drinks cold in San Francisco. We get an average of 34 feet of snow each winter. That was too much for successful ice harvesting so the company went down to Truckee where it’s colder and there is less snow.
Another important figure in the history of our area was Mark Hopkins of San Francisco. He was one of the Big 4 who built the railroad. He built an estate six miles down the road from the south end of Serene Lakes near an area called the Cedars. To please his wife, he also built a hotel (Summit Soda Springs) for her society friends. It became “the” place to spend time during the summer. The stagecoach connected the railroad station at Soda Springs Station (which is the condo complex at the flashing yellow light as you come in to Serene Lakes) with the hotel.
In the 1940s Ice Lakes Chalet was built as a lodge with cabins at the southern end of the lakes. There was also a camp ground. Our existing development was laid out in 1946.response / report this review -
27 July 2019
The serene lakes are very nice, I've been up there a couple of times and during the summer its fun to swim in and during the winter you can even go skiing up there. There is seating, and a beach during the summer and even a little snack shack where you can buy hot dogs. It's a quaint little lake
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