I'm planning a fall camping trip with friends with stock rigs. It was suggested by one of the guys that the trails near Fordyce Lake are nice, and although I've never been there, I can see through the pics on this site, some of it looks like the Little Sluice. So, I bought a Tahoe National Forest map and I'm looking at a trail on the west side of the south end of Fordyce Lake. As a side note, assuming weather and lake level cooperate, fishing would be nice. Is this trail easy enough for stock rigs to go through? Any better recommendations as far as other trails in this area?

I have a fire permit, fishing license, a capable-but-mostly stock rig (Tacoma, 3" lift, winch, recovery tools) and experience in winter camping. My friends have stock rigs and I don't want to be blamed for body damage.

Anyone with open diffs all around, or limited slips all around, is going to have a very challenging drive ahead of them. Still fun, if you ask me, and doable if you don't mind extracting yourself once in awhile. A stock rig will have trouble getting past winch hill 3 for sure, even the bypass will stop open diffs. It's not scary, just challenging.

If you decide to go for it just be prepared to pull on the open diff guys a lot. Oh, and if you have to stack rocks to get through then USE THE DAMN WINCH and leave the rocks alone! :flipoff2:

From your description (west side of the south end of Fordyce Lake) I'm thinking that could be a fire road your're looking at and not the four wheel drive trail. Might be wrong but the 4x4 trail is not very stock rig friendly especially this time of year. No stacking because Trek didn't happen and some rain thrown in too. If you're on the trail and any snow comes in you'll end up stuck for sure.

I'm not a fisherman but the guy in our group thought the fishing might be pretty good because the lake is so low.

One thing to keep in mind is that I believe Rattlesnake Road closes for the season when there is 12" of snow on it. That's the road up to Fordyce Lake. If you just want to fish you don't need to do the 4x4 trail to get to the lake.

there's no way you'll make it through the trail with your rig, but you might be talking about a fireroad.