The Fordyce Trail was rougher than ever, and was marked for me by tons of body damage. For Bryan, it was the Jeep that wouldn't start. It was a good thing Peter was along!
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Sierra Trek 2002
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August 8-11, 2002. The Fordyce Trail was rougher than ever, and was marked for me by tons of body damage. For Bryan, it was the Jeep that wouldn't start. It was a good thing Peter was along! |
This was my third trip to the Fordyce Trail for Sierra Trek. Little Berkeley and Peter Marx joined me, along with Bryan and Evan Archambeault in Bryan's coil-sprung YJ. We volunteered to help with Friday morning staging and with the Friday trail drag. We woke up Friday at 3:30 AM and didn't get to sleep until 24 hours later. Bryan and Evan spent the night on the trail with Project No-Start, f.k.a. Project BrYJ.
The really nice part about getting in late was that we missed both dinner and the leftovers. That's good? Yes, because we were just in time for the 3 AM Star Trek breakfast. We were served biscuits and gravy, a massive t-bone steak, two eggs, and hash brown, all piled on a big plate. SOS would have tased good at that point, but this was much better! Delicious!
For me, body damage was the phrase of the day. Where was my head? Not on the trail, that's for sure. I was bummed by all the damage, but now I look at it this way: on all my previous trips, I've been fortunate... not this time.
The winch hills seem to remain about the same in difficulty, but the un-manned portions of the trail are getting worse. Below average rainfall, and therefore lower creek levels, have kept the Fordyce Trail open for much more of the Summer. Trail closures have put increasing pressure on the few remaining trails, so this one's getting a beating.
In the end, we had a good time and we all got home safely.
Trail pictures from Peter Marx
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