Fordyce. Some say its the “hardest” trail in CA. I doubt that considering Johnson Valley. Nevertheless, its a level up from the Rubicon for sure and has been on my radar for a while. Last year I did the Rubicon with @Alex01. I was on 33s and had the smallest rig we saw. It was fun and I did about everything except the Soup Bowl. There was a LOT of undercarriage contact. This year, on 35s with more armor and clearance and a little more wheel time, I felt ready to try Fordyce. Currently, my rig is somewhat similar to Alex’s in that its a TJ on 35s with a manual and a 5:1 Atlas but he has mid-arms, 1 ton PSC steering and built Dana 44s with 4.88 gears vs my short arms, ZJ steering, and Dana 30/35 with 4.11s. And he is an experienced and adventurous driver. Whatever…
So I loaded up the Jeep on my trailer and drove 450 miles to Truckee, CA where I met Alex. It was hot on the drive down (104 deg). There are a bunch of mountain passes to climb and my new gauges gave me a feel for what the tow rig is dealing with (IATs 125-130 degrees, density altitudes 3-4K over actual and hot EGTs). But I was careful to keep the EGTs at or below 1300 and the rig did well.
After crashing at Alex’s Thursday night, me, Alex and his 4 year old son (who was really good on his first overnight camping trip) headed out Friday morning. Fordyce is only about 30 min out of Truckee. The trailhead.
View attachment 548152
Posing early on:
View attachment 548178View attachment 548179
Like the Rubicon, much of the trail is loose boulders (I think the term is decomposed granite). Actually, its slightly less tedious than the Rubicon which is a 22 mile endurance run of non-stop boulders but not too many discrete obstacles. Fordyce is only 11.5 miles but still has lots of the above and also many un-named legit obstacles.
View attachment 548173View attachment 548174View attachment 548175
Finally, there are the “Winch Hills” numbered 1-5. There are also 3 required crossings of Fordyce Creek. It is, therefore, critical to know the flow in the creek before you head out as at high flow it can be impassable. The water level was a non-issue for this trip. Neither Alex nor I are great photographers. If @MagnumV8 was along, I would have have way better documentation. Several miles in we came to Winch Hill 1. Its a boulder filled chute which tapers to a v-notch and then a wall at the top. Its intimidating. Here’s Alex working his way up with a buggy in front of him.
View attachment 548166
The group of 5 we met here was 4 buggies and a JK on 38s (which took the bypass). There were a couple of ways to do this. Alex did the wall at the top by staying left, getting his driver front about 4 feet in the air, rotating passenger and scrabbling up the wall (after a bunch of tries).
View attachment 548167
My turn. I tried the same but failed. In the end, I took a more central line that my rig would climb.
View attachment 548168
Tippy…
View attachment 548169
Tight…
View attachment 548170
Up.
View attachment 548171But not before ripping off a valve stem from my driver rear and banging my passenger corner into a rock as a fell back after a failed attempt. The valve stem loss deflated the tire, obviously, but the Coyote bead lock kept it seated and I made it up on a flat tire without assistance. I also hit my passenger rocker armor hard multiple times. Alex said he could see it flex but it did not bend. All and all, I felt like I beat the snot out of the rig to get up but despite the carnage, I would call it a success. I carry no spare but I did have a patch kit and Colby emergency valve stems. We threw one in and got the tire re-inflated.
View attachment 548172However, you can’t run the Coyote bead lock with a Colby stem because it has no channel behind it to get air between the inner bead lock bladder and outer tire, so I had to deflate the bead lock and run higher PSI (15) in that tire. One major obstacle in, and I’m already wounded
We had started at around 9 and shortly after 3 we were at Winch Hill 2 near Committee Crossing, where we planned to camp. We played around for awhile in this area:
Then we crossed the creek and found a great spot to pitch our tents.
View attachment 548165
There was a beautiful falls/water slide and a swimming hole which we availed ourselves of. Super cold at first, but refreshing and nice to get cleaned up.
View attachment 548163View attachment 548164
It was burgers and beans & weenies plus some fruit and beer for dinner. What a great evening. Alex and I debated the problems of the world for hours and then turned in for nice nights sleep. It rained over night and and the following morning and trail conditions were totally different. I hadn’t wheeled in wet conditions before. I was not surprised that what was easy became challenging.
Winch Hill 3 was next. The original line is a wide v-notch that Alex exploded his front axle in last year. Apparently, it took 2 rigs to winch him out. Looking at it, the shape/width just doesn’t seem amenable to TJ width axles. Talking to some buggy guys on the trail this year, it sounded like most of them also do the harder of the 2 go rounds. So we did that. You know its a real trail when the go round is challenging.
Alex was concerned that I was about to drive into the 8 foot deep buggy line to passenger. He probably saved me there.
At Winch Hill 4 we met some friends of Alex’s and his son’s coming down from Meadow Lake. They had some nice rigs (40s was the smallest tire I saw). Alex had some trouble with his front locker near the bottom, but once that sorted it self out, he got un-turtled and got up well.
View attachment 548185View attachment 548186View attachment 548187
My climb was uneventful (amazingly).
Before Winch Hill 5 the rain was back.
View attachment 548177View attachment 548176
WH5 itself looks like nothing in the pic but it was steep. I put wheels on it but didn’t make it past halfway.
View attachment 548162
We were both pretty sure it was very doable in dry conditions but we took the go round.
Not long after that, the weather cleared and we were at the far trail head:
View attachment 548161
We did it! Mild carnage but nothing we couldn’t fix and no winch line pulled. Once, again I didn’t see a smaller rig on this trail. Alex’s comment: “I’m really impressed with our baby tire rigs”
Meadow Lake from higher up on the road out:
View attachment 548155
On the way back from Fordyce to Truckee, the Jeep was fine upto about 55mph, then the imbalance from the extra valve stem really was jarring:
Despite the tire issue, Fordyce was some of the best wheeling I’ve experienced.
Time to head home Saturday afternoon.
Mt Shasta ahead:
View attachment 548154
With cooler weather, the numbers all look great and I got 15mpg on return trip (vs 13 on the way down in the heat). Not too bad hauling 7500-8000K through the mountains.
Siskiyou pass on I-5:
View attachment 548153
After every trip, you gotta clean up and do damage assessment.
At home, I cleaned up the passenger corner scuff to get the sharp edges off and smooth it out a little.
View attachment 548156View attachment 548157
Any better than that, and I wouldn’t notice it. As it is, it will make me smile at the memory of WH1 when I see it.
The rockers also took some hits, especially passenger.
View attachment 548159
I can report the butt crack delete and steel tank skid worked great! Numbers of hits were way down, especially for a trail like this. Although the skid is certainly broken in, there are no bends, just scrapes and not near as many as I expected
View attachment 548160
No pics but the belly skid only got a few scuffs
Now the Jeep is clean and has dried out in the sun. Spare is on and the rig goes down the road straight, smooth and steady at 80mph. Ready to drive to work tomorrow
View attachment 548158
Looks super fun. Can't beat a swim in a mountain lake mid-trail. Good to see the gas tank skid investment paid off too.
You need to get a cover for that EGT gauge so it doesn't drive you crazy driving
