FORDYCE for the FUN of It - In Before the Grooming

wayoflife

wayoflife

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A little over a week ago, Cindy and I were up in the Truckee area doing some exploring and ultimately ended up at Meadow Lake. For those of you who aren't familiar with the area, this is the location of the old gold mining town known as Summit City and it's also where the Fordyce Jeep Trail comes to an end. While we were up there, we ran into some locals who reminded us that the annual Sierra Trek event was just around the corner and that the California 4 Wheel Drive Association would be coming in soon to "groom" the trail. If we wanted to get in some play time while the rocks were still nasty, we had better do it soon. Unprepared to run it right then and there, we finished up our day, headed back home and didn't give it another thought - or should I say, I didn't think Cindy was giving it much thought. After waking up on Thursday morning and as we started to get ready for the day, Cindy turned to me and asked if maybe we should try running Fordyce the following week. To that, I said, maybe we should just run it today! Needless to say, that was all that needed to be said and before we knew it, our two Jeeps were packed up and we were off to a long fun filled day out on the trail. Here are a few photos and screen shots that we took from our run, I hope you enjoy.

The Day that Started it All
This is a shot of Rubicat up at Meadow Lake about a week before we decided to run Fordyce. As you can see, it's springtime up in the mountains and the wildflowers were in full bloom.
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Pulling into the old Summit City town site. It's hard to believe that back in the early 1860's, there were as many as 4,000 people living here, over 500 buildings including 200 businesses, a stock exchange, 6 breweries,80 saloons and a 9,000 sq. ft. pavilion along the shores of the lake.
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Paying a visit to some of the old residents of Summit City.
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Here is the grave of Henry W. Hartley. "He died with the believe that his town would someday live again."
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After our visit to the Summit City Cemetery, we made our way down the Fordyce Trail to explore the ruins of the old Excelsior Mine.
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View from the mine looking out toward the Old Man Mountain.
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Before turning around, we stopped to give Winch Hill #5 a look. Funny how photos just can't do justice to just how tough an obstacle really is.
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On our way out, we stopped along one of the many gorgeous camp sites along the shores of Meadow Lake to soak in the views and let Tessa go for a swim.
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Our Fordyce Fun Run
After deciding on a whim that we'd drop what we were doing and go on a spur of the moment fun run up the Fordyce Jeep Trail, we packed up our 2 Jeep JK Wranglers and got ready to head out.
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Topping off our tanks in Truckee before hitting the dirt.
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Down at the Staging area near the Indian Springs Campground, airing down and getting ready to play.
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At the Fordyce Creek Jeep Trailhead - Let the good times roll!
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Just before the fork that will take you to Eagle Lakes, there's an unnamed but fun obstacle that has several different lines up and as you can guess, we took some time to have a little fun here.
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Working our way around glacier carved granite as we neared the first water crossing.
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Pulling up to Water Crossing #1
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Objects in water are deeper than they appear! Without question, this is the lowest we've seen the water flowing on Water Crossing #1 and it's surprising especially being that we just came off a banner year of snow. Of course, the water flow is controlled by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and the rate it flows at can change to impassible levels without warning or notice. Perhaps more than the 5 winch hills, it's these water crossings, their unpredictable flow and your inability to cross them when the flood gates open that make Fordyce such a tough trail to plan and run.
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View up the creek before taking the plunge and fording it.
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As you can see here, in spite of how low the water was, it still was deep enough to come up to Rubicat's doors. In fact, without the doors, we would have taken on a bit of water for sure.
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Here are a couple of shots of Cindy taking Moby across. So that it isn't missed, Moby is running 40" tires and again, the water flow was at the lowest that we've ever seen it.
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View looking up the creek from the campsite just on the other side of Water Crossing #1
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About half way between Water Crossing #1 and Winch Hill #0.5, we pulled into a nice campsite that sits along the shores of a nice wide section of the creek that gives it the look and feel of a lake.
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A tight squeeze! Near to Winch Hill #0.5, there's a pair of trees that are tight enough for a JK running full width ProRock 60 and 80 axles that make you feel like you're on the Dusy.
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Back on to the rocks.
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So much of the dirt that used to be at the base of Winch Hill #0.5 has been dug out that going straight up it like we did in SNAKE EYES is no longer the main route. In fact, the new line up is off to the driver side of the rock face and through the v-notch.
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Pulling up to some of the old mining equipment that belonged to the old Carlyle Mine.
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Rock on the trail are larger than they appear! This is the road to Winch Hill #1 and no joke, the camera doesn't do them justice. Fortunately, there is a bypass for this but as you can guess, we didn't take it.
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Here's a shot of Cindy working Moby up through the rubble.
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As a reminder, Moby is running 40" tires and the rocks here make them look small.
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Rubicat following close behind.
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So, for those of you who are familiar with SNAKE EYES, the bigass boulder that used to sit at the middle of the mouth of Winch Hill #1 is no longer there. In fact, everything is gone and much easier to negotiate. That being said, the second half of the obstacle is way dug out and climbing out of it requires you to bump your way up the side of the rock face and in an uncomfortable off camber lean. If you bump too hard, you will dump your Jeep.
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Once you clear the ledge, you need to be lined up to get your passenger tires up and on top the rock you see up against the fender. If you don't or if you slip off as you can see here, you're more than likely to do a bit of damage to your doors.
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Fortunately, they were only half doors and more flexible than steel doors. We only suffered a few scratches.
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Cindy slowly working her way up and over the top.
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It was a struggle and definitely took more effort with 37's but I was just able to get Rubicat up the new mouth of Winch Hill #1.
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Trying my hardest to crawl my way up along the ridge of this rock without slipping off so that I don't damage Rubicat's doors. Notice the driver side front tire that is hanging over 4 feet off the ground.
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Back on all 4 again.
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A shot looking back down Winch Hill #1
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Both Jeeps up on top and ready to push on.
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Fording Water Crossing #2 isn't as deep as #1 but it's got bigger rocks underneath the water.
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While all the Winch Hills do have bypasses (which can still be tough), the rest of the trail between Winch Hill #1 and the end is chalked full of rocky challenges that have no names and there are no bypasses for them.
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Winch Hill #2 was seriously dug out and had big under cut ledges. I can only assume this will get "groomed" for Sierra Trek.
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Crawling our way to Water Crossing #3
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Water Crossing #3 is by far the longest and shallowest of them all.
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Coming up on the Committee Trail Junction.
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There's some cool old mining equipment here including this massive bull wheel. How the hell did anyone get this up in this remote location back in the 1800's is beyond me.
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View looking across the Committee Trail ford.
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Looking up the creek from the ford.
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View looking down the creek.
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On the move again, Cindy wiggling Moby through the Squeeze.
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There are a lot of different lines up to the top and just for fun, I took Rubicat up this one.
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Kicking up the dust as we made our way up Launna's Hill.
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For those of you who've seen SNAKE EYES, this is the optional line up Winch Hill #3 that I took on at night and ended up having to winch out of. I know it's hard to judge the scale of these rocks but I can assure you they are HUGE. I should also note that it's way more dug out at the bottom and I don't think you could even start it without a set of 40's. Of course, the top narrows out and while you can get your front axle up to the top, it's really really hard to get your rear axle out without your tires getting pinched in between the rocks. The last time I tried this, I ended up bending the flanges on my then semi-float ProRock 60 rear shafts.
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Being late in the day and with way more troubles that it'd be worth at the time, we decided to just stick to the main route up this time around.
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Pushing on to Winch Hill #4
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Working our way up Winch Hill #4
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And finally, getting ready to take on Winch Hill #5
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Here's Cindy giving it a go.
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After struggling to get Rubicat up the same line and failing, I made a course correction and was able to get to the middle of the obstacle.
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Although I was able to get further up, I was quite a bit off from where I wanted to be setup for the second half of the obstacle. Still, I decided to give it a go anyway.
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Unfortunately, that decision proved to be a mistake and one that came within an inch of putting Rubicat on her lid!
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What ultimately happened was that my passenger rear tire slipped out from under me and that pitched me on my side. By sheer luck, the corner of my EVO rocker guard just happened to catch the edge of the boulder I slipped off of and that stopped me from going all the way over. Literally, another inch off and I would have gone and I was still on my side enough that oil was working its way into the engine.
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Fortunately, I was able to carefully back myself off the rocks and back on the ground.
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In spite of all the smoke, Rubicat was still in one piece and we were effectively done with the trail.
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A few parting shots from the top of Winch Hill #5
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I hope you enjoyed following our spur of the moment fun run up the Fordyce Creek Jeep Trail. It is without question, one of our most favorite trails bar none. If you have any doubts, it's definitely harder than the Rubicon if only because there are so few bypasses and the fact that it has such deep and unpredictable water crossings. Of course, if you decide to take on the winch hills, they are no joke either. I personally wouldn't recommend running this trail without a set of 37's and lockers front and rear or at least, not until after the Sierra Trek event.
 
Trail Bud said:
That's a wild day. I wonder why the water is so low?
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LOL!! Tons of fun for sure. Water is released by PG&E to generate electricity. I guess there just wasn't a demand for it when we were there. But, was it really that low? :crazyeyes:
 
Man it does look like such a fun trail! I cannot imagine how exhausting it must be to grab all of those sweet photos while spotting each other through that trail. Thanks for sharing!
 
MR.Ty said:
Man it does look like such a fun trail! I cannot imagine how exhausting it must be to grab all of those sweet photos while spotting each other through that trail. Thanks for sharing!
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LOL!! Well thank you for realizing just how much work it really is to run up and down a trail like this to spot and take photos. Let me tell you, we were BEAT by the end of the day and we were just 2 Jeeps on this run. :crazyeyes:
 
i'm so jealous!! I spent 3 hours trying to put front brake pads on in this heat..most of it was drinking water and trying to cool off :naw:

I was thinking just about to look at old trips to get my motivation back! that looked like another awesome fun trip , thanks!:thumb:
 
jeeeep said:
i'm so jealous!! I spent 3 hours trying to put front brake pads on in this heat..most of it was drinking water and trying to cool off :naw:

that looked like another awesome fun trip :thumb:
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Well, although you weren't able to get out on the trail, working on your Jeep is probably the next best thing even if it were in the heat. :cool:
 
what a day, nice pics and great job getting through the trail. really looks tough and a lot of fun. Fordyce is on my list, so are 37s I guess :D
 
Rolling rubicat would have ruined the day... big time! Glad you while about to get out of that sticky situation!
 
Another awesome adventure guys! Keep sharing, cause I know I love living vicariously through all of your trips!
 
BamBamDeer said:
Beautiful Country! Looks like you guys had a Great Time! Thanks for sharing.
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Without a doubt, the beautiful country is what makes a trail like this so awesome. :yup:

benatc1 said:
what a day, nice pics and great job getting through the trail. really looks tough and a lot of fun. Fordyce is on my list, so are 37s I guess :D
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Thanks, it's a tough trail for sure and one that we'd typically recommend that you break down into 2 days like the Rubicon. Being that it was just the two of us, we were able to run the whole thing in a day but we did bring camping gear with us... just in case :crazyeyes:

ob_tj said:
Rolling rubicat would have ruined the day... big time! Glad you while about to get out of that sticky situation!
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Oh yeah, it would have sucked big time especially with the sun going down. Got lucky for sure. :cool:

TrainWreck618 said:
Love spur of the moment trips! Thanks for sharing
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Us too - they're they best only we typically get a later start in the day then we would have if we planned it :crazyeyes:
 
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