Tourists and locals alike say they are keeping the drowned man's family in their thoughts.
"It's extremely tragic. And it's not the first time I've heard of something like this happening. And it's just kind of unbelievable," said tourist Matthew Bebke. "People go out on the lake thinking they're having a fun time. They don't really think about safety measures or different things they could do to prevent certain things from happening."
Bebke is visiting Donner Lake to celebrate Memorial Day and says he and his friends will be taking safety more seriously following a weekend drowning.
"Life jackets are important. Any sort of safety precaution that you can do, I'd say do it," said Bedke. "Every time you have fun, you have to always have that thing in the back of your mind. How can we make this safe as well?"
The Truckee-Donner Recreation and Parks District also wants to remind folks going into the water that it's very cold, which can make it even more dangerous.
"We are high altitude. A lot of people here think that they can perform the same ability as lower altitudes, and we don't have the same amount of oxygen," said lifeguard Hayli Stewart. "People kind of get taken aback up here in the cold water jumping in. You don't realize how cold it is until you're in there. It kind of steals your breath."
Stewert says one way to prevent cold water shock from becoming deadly is by wearing a life jacket.
"Laws up here require you to just take a life jacket, but it's smarter to actually wear your life jacket, so don't just pack it. You wear your jacket," she said.
Stewart says that goes for boating, paddle boarding, kayaking, and even swimming, but especially for little ones. To make life jackets as effective as possible, Stewart says they need to be strapped on properly.
"When you put them on and you tighten the straps down as much as possible, if you pull up on the shoulders and it's rising above your head, that's not a properly fitting life jacket. So, either need to tighten the straps down or get a smaller size," said Stewert.
There are a few places around the lake with life jackets available to borrow for free.
