Fordyce Creek Trail

November 11, 2006

Written by Mark

I had been itching to get out and see what real Rock Crawling was like and wanted to get one run in this season. My rig had been down most of this wheeling season and I finally got it back together and to the point were I felt that I could go out and not make to much of a fool out of myself at my first attempt of a real trail. The fool part still happened.  The only other trail I had been on before was Strawberry, so what better way to get my feet wet ( I guess I should say Rob's feet) than to run one of the hardest trails in Northern Ca. So I put a post up for in impromptu run for Fordyce. The following Posse members, prospects, friends showed up for what turned out to be one awesome run.

Rob

 

John & Larry

 

Fred & Cole

 

Chuck

 

Keane, Alex & Richard

 

Tang

 

Mark

 

Rob, John and myself met up for breakfast at Bakers Square at 6:30 am. Keane joined us for some coffee. After breakfast we met up with Fred, Chuck, Alex, Richard and Tang outside and headed up to Nyack to top off. We had a light rain on the way up that turned to snow around 5000 ft. After fueling up. We headed up to the Cisco Grove exit to enter the Fordyce trail, where we met up with Larry and Cole. We aired down and proceeded to follow Rob to the Committee Trail to run winch hill 3,4 and 5. After a few miles of heading through the forest and down. We made it to the water crossing. Things were going good people were getting across.

 

Until it was my turn. I followed the same line as everyone else but managed to get high centered in the water. Rob came to my rescue and saved me from getting very cold.

 

Then we proceeded up through pinch rock and headed up the trail.

 

We had a few minor delays winching and rock stacking to get through a few spots on the way to winch hill 3 but we were still moving at a good pace.
At Winch Hill 3 I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After everyone made it up Winch Hill 3 we ate a quick lunch and headed back up the trail.  We moved about 20 ft and then John's Passenger side hub let go.

 

After about 15 minutes we were back on the trail. Things were going good until I got myself into a little pickle that took about 15 minutes to get out.

 

After that things went very fast and the next thing I knew we were at the top of winch hill 5. Somewhere along the way we went up winch hill 4 but I'm not sure what pictures they are. After winch hill 5 we headed out towards the lake and got a few group shots.

 

We then headed out to the road to air up. From there we headed into Truckee for some dinner and coffee.

Carnage from the trip:
Keane Body Damage
Chuck broken light
Tang underwear from his trip up the bypass on winch hill 3
John Broken hub
Mark Front ARB wasn't working, Fender Flare damage, Little body damage in the wheel well area, tore up and leaking rear diff cover, bent to hell spring plate and shock mount.
Rob Nothing
Fred Nothing

I want to thank everyone that came out. I think we all had a very fun trip. I also want to thank Rob for leading us on a great trail.