After Turkey wheeling trip thursday night to sunday, Lakes entrance, and i just checked the flow and happy to say its only rain runoff. After last time im very tenative around water i pee my pants when i see moving water, im going to have to put my water wings on! And I heard from a very good source the new trail going to the crossing is nice and gnarly now, cant wait to flop my shit down it:flipoff2:

Have fun and take your time. Be prepaired for any weather. :smokin:

Have fun and take your time. Be prepaired for any weather. :smokin:


Good idea to get a little bit of warning discussion going on this topic. We had a relatively safe incident free summer and let's try for the same this winter. Here's something I wrote for the FOF website:

"The Fordyce Trail is located at the Eagle Lakes turn off on Highway I-80.

The Fordyce Trail is very difficult. Only well equiped rigs should attempt it. The trail should never be run alone.

There are five "Winch Hills" and three water crossings on the trail. There is an additional water crossing when taking the "cut out" to the Committee Road. All five hills have their own particular difficult aspects and you should be prepared ahead of time with the knowledge of those features. The water crossings can be very hazardous in times of increased water release from the dam. Check the link below for the latest projections and gather knowledge of the proper "lines" to take while crossing.

Someone in your group should have run the trail at least once before.

Make sure you carry adequate food, water and clothing for changing trail and weather conditions or in the event of a break down that requires you to spend more time on the trail than you anticipated."

That last part is really important especially in the wintertime. Don't even think in terms of a "day trip" once the weather gets bad. Carry winter gear including adequate clothing and camping supplies even if you're only planning a "day trip." Have food for a couple of days.

And another important point. TREAD LIGHTLY!! With the wet stuff comes more need for taking the hook or a tug from a friend. We're very lucky that the TNF included over the snow travel in the travel managment decision for us on the Fordyce to the first water crossing. I attended a meeting with the forest service this week to come up with a plan on how to administer the snow depth requirement. These guys we work with in the forest service are great. The first thing they want is voluntary cooperation based on a snow gauge placed somewhere in the staging area. If everyone is cool and no resource damage occurs that's all we'll ever see.

There was also talk of creating a trail to extend Cisco's trail to Indian Springs, getting Eagle Lakes Rd designated combined use, and even talk of a snow park/staging area including a plowed road right into the trail head. Our team is not afraid to think outside the box and long term knowing use is only going to increase.

I'll post a complete report on my meeting in another thread where we can all discuss what went on.

Be safe out there this winter!

Good stuff Brett:D

Good advice any pics of last week wheeling? I wasnt able to make it up a handyman never rests! But iam planning on being up there after turkey day whos with me?? Just got the boggers on!

Good advice any pics of last week wheeling? I wasnt able to make it up a handyman never rests! But iam planning on being up there after turkey day whos with me?? Just got the boggers on!

id like to go but my truck isnt even close to put together. got a passenger seat open?

We have three rigs planning on going up friday after Thanksgiving, gonna do some winter wheeling and camping. We have prepared for the cold nights and are going with our families.
We plan on going out through Eagle and setting up camp just past the first water crossing. We will do some wheeling on saturday and then return to camp, should be awesom if the weather cooperates.:D

We were thinking cisco at the big campsite before the crossing, might have to talk to the guys see if they wanna run it to eagles instead? Were leaving friday morning also.

10 day weather forecast says no snow or rain for the days after thanksgiving 26-28th and temperatures high of 49 and a low of 22 so its going to be cold but pretty nice out. Heading up to cisco friday morning its going to be great i got the boggers on too...

bring em if you got em. the deep snow will only be half the challenge. we will be up at eagle lakes entrance friday morn. dont know how far past the freeway we can get!

yep got 2 of them packed up! Bring your shovels too

just got back from eagles lake entrance got about 1/2 mile in and it is very deep!! Check out the pics.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1259.jpg

My cousin trying to plow hes on 33's lol
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1254.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1252.jpg

End of the trail very deep...
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1250.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1258.jpg

These other guys got stuck right at the turnout, little truck on 29" allterrains it took for ever to get them out
http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1263.jpg


Overall very fun, couldnt get my brothers jeep up there still messing with the turbo but we plan on getting up there next week with the 44's and getting alot farther!

A couple more

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1257.jpg


http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1255.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo1264.jpg

looks like you guys gave up where we stopped plowing. crappy snow, three feet of sugar. that stuff was terrable to pack. still needs some time to settle

I got another 40ft but dude kids were getting cold so he had to go back to his cabin, I bet next weekend is going to be good this snow doesnt pack for shit!

It looks like you guys didn't make it much past the trail head parking lot. It also looks like there is less snow than I was expecting. How many feet would you estimate?

I bet there is about 3.5'-4' of snow out there right now

there was no getting on top of that stuff, it was time to give up when it took that much time and effort to go down hill! we ended up going down by dutch flat to play on some logging roads by the river. maybe next sat. we will see you guys.

Ya thats what i was thinking another day trip on saturday

Heres a few more of the snow height

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo0046.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/Mobile%20Uploads/Photo0018.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i182/silversas13/156240_594362111663_26208251_33588319_558167_n.jpg

i stopped by on my way home from reno. i am glad you guys were coming out, i am not sure i would have ever got that guy on 29s pulled out. i went in 100ft on 37s and had trouble without airing down. I was there by myself and wasn't going to try going any further.

I had the 91 xtra cab.

Ya it was nasty like quick sand, good seeing you again i still owe you some gas and oil:flipoff2: Were planning on going again either this weekend or next ill let u know!

Looks like we made the right decision, calling our trip off at the last minute. We would have traveled four hours to get to Cisco just to find out we would not have gotten far.
Im still bummed that we had to call it off though:(

Looks like we made the right decision, calling our trip off at the last minute. We would have traveled four hours to get to Cisco just to find out we would not have gotten far.
Im still bummed that we had to call it off though:(

So we will see you at fun fest?

So we will see you at fun fest?

Fo sho beoch:flipoff2:
Hey, give me a call or PM me with your phone number, I need a new seat for Dominic, and was wondering what you have for Jack.
707-217-7719

WOW I have to compliment u guys on a beuty trail system. just been looking threw some posts it looks similar to some country we have up here. I wish I had the 4x4 community to share it with. great enthusiasm and keep up the good work. will hopfully drive there one day wheel it and drive home....

i tried to get to the trail head the other day was by my self so didnt try to hard lots of good snow

Hows the snow up there this weekend??

More pics!!

Nat

Has anyone ran the trail recently? Looking to backpack/snowshoe in on the weekend of the Feb 18th. Hoping to get thoughts on the condition/amount of snow.

Meant to subscribe to thread. Also let me know if I should create a separate thread for this.