Fordyce Trail's Winch Hill One commands a beautiful view as this Early Bronco muscles its full-size F150 axles through an unlikely line.

Trek was still huge in 1998, with camping four-wheelers and their families spread out over more than a mile of Meadow Lake's shoreline. Located just north of Truckee, south of Sierraville, and west of Highway 86, once again this year, Summit City became a boomtown again as four-wheelers converged on CA4WD's premiere wheeling event.

As mentioned, El Nino caused a three-week delay of schedule. The massive snowpack was still melting, and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) couldn't be confident they could gain control over Fordyce Creek in time for the originally scheduled date. Each year, CA4WDC gets a special permit from the U.S. Forest Service and PG&E diminishes the outflow of Fordyce Creek, allowing 4x4 safe passage across the trail's multiple water-crossings. Crossing this creek any other time of the year can be dangerous, depending on the water levels. With any decent snowfall the winter before, count on a minimum 2.5 feet depth of fast-moving water -- and maximum flow only gets faster and higher. At the first water crossing, a trashed, tumbled, and stripped Jeep stood mute testimony to the fury of these waters and the misfortune of at least one Jeeper.

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My story this year picks up at 3:00 Thursday AM as I idled quietly into camp under parking lights. I scooted my friend's dog over, and flipped my bag out, and was asleep. Three hours later the roar of incoming trucks awakened me. Thursday at Sierra Trek is pretty informal, with just the vendors and hosting club members, a small-scale warm-up of the hundreds of trucks due in the next few days. With fewer participants, this is a more leisurely trail ride, but the downside is that not all the spotters are out on Thursday.

 

Another Early Bronco poses on the rubbled hill leading down to the first crossing.

I swapped out a questionable starter at the trailhead, taking well-deserved abuse from some friends for my last-minute preparations. I was ready to roll when our group hit the trail at 9:00. Our group hailed mostly from Contra Costa, and was organized by Don Souza. These folks have been helping to stage this run for years.

• Kimber Rau and Thomas Almeida (green CJ-5) and Quito the dog
• Donna Souza and Andrea Mullen (teal TJ)
• Randy Burleson (black Amigo)
• Mel and Terry Beasley (tan CJ7)
• Don and Terri Souza (brown CJ7)
• Rob Oakley and Terry Woodhouse (white TJ)
• Pete and Joy McHugn
• Ron and Cathy McCurry (red CJ5)
• Paul Padgett (tan Toyota)

It was a great day, a casual, accomplished group of 'wheelers working their way through a fun section of rocky trails. Then yours truly lost power to his new starter. Kicking myself and taking some good-natured ribbing, we had some excitement bump-starting my Amigo down a rocky slope on the way downhill to the first water crossing.

 

GRIDWNCH grabs air at Winch Hill One.

In ten minutes, I cleaned the terminals and checked the wires while my buddies ate lunch. It wasn't the terminals, but rather the signal lead from the ignition. After a quick jump to the headlights, I flashed my brights to trigger the starter, and was ready to roll after lunch, feeling pretty humble. I was pretty impressed with my MacGyver-ing, though.

Our group continued on, and Don watched his daughter, Donna, pick excellent lines up the last mile of trail. Her driving really impressed the guys manning Winch Hill One. We all motored easily up the Winch Hill with excellent spotting help from the Chico club. This Winch Hill can be one of the toughest obstacles on the trail.

 

'The Squeeze' is plenty tight for even mid-size trucks, but not for this guy.

We kept rolling along, and our group walked up Winch Hill Two, as well. On the way to Winch Hill Three, we slipped through 'Squeeze Rock' like it was two freeway lanes wide. This group could 'wheel!

 

Winch Hill Three: Grease up the side panels, they're coming through!

Winch Hill Three was the first obstacle that slowed our group down, and it sure did grab onto several of us! This Winch Hill climbs a rubble-strewn corridor that gradually closes in, then turns right, into a ten-foot tall granite chute with pretty much one line -- between the tight walls and straight up the middle. Good spotting and the correct momentum squeezed my open-differential Isuzu Amigo up with an inch to spare on either side, but if I hadn't dented that front fender at last year's 'Zu Zoo Moabzu, I sure would have on Fordyce Trail. A well-built CJ5 crept up in the Winch Hill but the frame twisted enough to jam the tranny linkage, preventing further progress without a strap from me. A CJ7 that had been running like a champ all day picked this moment and this place and decided to plug its fuel filter. Most of the rigs in our group made it up, but it wasn't very pretty, and dark was starting to fall. We paused to fix the linkage, replace the fuel filter, and hotwire my headlights (remember - I used a jumper to connect the flash-to-pass switch directly to the starter trigger lead).

 

Parking near Winch Hill Four required both creativity and articulation.

We met up with Marlin Czajkowski, a.k.a. Marlin Crawler, between Winch Hills. This guy has to be the hardest working man in the biz - he ran Fordyce on Thursday, set up his booth, shook hands, then sped down to Loon Lake, where he ran the Rubicon as part of the Toyota Rubithon event. From there, he doubled BACK to Sierra Trek and was last seen shaking more hands and answering more technical questions. I get tired just thinking of his schedule!

Our group pulled onto Winch Hill Four, and a couple of our group that had gone ahead a little were there to help spot us up the Winch Hill. Thanks, guys! This Winch Hill climbs up more loose granite, with a sharp left turn and several ledges and slick tree roots to boot.

Frankly, from the end of Winch Hill Three to the end of the trail, I was dead tired, and on autopilot. I drove Winch Hills Four and Five after dark, driving by the light of one headlight. I was tired, and relied more on my clearance and suspension flex to get me through than good driving technique. That approach cost me a shock, when a particularly ugly rock reached around to the TOP of my axle housing and snatched away the bottom mount for my RS9000. I heard the shock clanking on a rock and zip-tied the shock up, but another rock later ripped it down and broke it in two. Ah well, that's the price we pay for driving extreme trails, right?

 

Loose dirt and a big audience had this driver watching warily at Winch Hill Five.

The rest of the group weren't quite so weary as I was, and certainly didn't drive that way. Winch Hill Five is normally well stocked with audience, but it was Thursday night, and everyone was back in camp! This last Winch Hill has several sections: a rock approach, a tightly angled curve, and a bouldered exit. With no audience to cheer our slow-motion wheelstands, our group crawled up and out to the access road. We drove into camp, threw down a campsite, parked some of our trucks, and headed back to the staging area to be ready to stage Friday's run. A few more hours of sleep, and this group of tired wheelers, and one tired editor got up to help stage Fridays hundred-and-a-half trucks. I rode in with some of these participants to photograph the trail and my Jeepin' friends doubled back to Meadow Lake's main camp to sleep!

After a long, well-deserved day of sleep on Saturday, I was refreshed and ready for a run through the well-populated vendor midway, which started to shut down right as the famous Saturday Sierra Trek shin dig started to spool up. The bonfire, music, and bar guaranteed a good time until the wee hours.

 

This cherry little Willys wheeled as well as it looked.

Members from several clubs traded turns during all weekend kept everyone well fed and happy: Sunday breakfast was on exception. The truck competition was fiercely fought in all categories. Super Modified went to an exceptional FJ40 with 'a lot of roll cage.' Short Wheelbase Modified, the most populated class, went to the same Bronco that took out 3 axles and a Detroit locker last year in a full-scale assault on Winch Hill Five. This year he was back with Dana 60's at both ends - no breakage there. Long Wheelbase Modified went to a HUGE Suburban that dwarfed the other rigs. Daily Driver went to an immaculate Early Bronco. A yellow Jeepster Commando took the People's Choice Award, and the Archer Brothers' White nineteen-sixty-UGLY CJ5 limped off with the Ugly Truck Title (my dog was afraid to walk near it). The judges were so impressed with one little Willys that they created a new class on the spot - the Judge's Choice Award. If you were there, you saw this incredible little olive-green flattie, and you understood why it deserved special notice. All the trucks were impressive, and I took home a handful of scribbled notes for ideas that I think I need to implement on my rig.

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Somehow CA4WDC brings more amazing prizes each and every year... for 32 years straight. Multiple winches, multiple lockers, multiple sets of tires --- more than two hours of solid raffling. I was only ten tickets away from winning an Air Locker! The food was fabulous, the vendors had new goodies, and the party rocked. What an excellent weekend!

There was very little trail damage this year, as opposed to last year. This year I saw only a grenaded Cruiser hub, a twisted driveshaft, and minor body damage. I heard tales of a failed fuel injection pump, a few over-heating rigs, and several snapped axles. This was a definite improvement over last year's study in carnage, and speaks well to the preparations of the individual drivers as well as the contributions of the committees that prepared the trail, spotted participants through, and pitched in to fix when necessary. CA4WDC puts on a heck of an well-organized event, one that draws participants year after year. I know I'll be back again.

 Click here for VIDEO CLIPS from '98 Sierra Trek.

Click here to view Off-Road.com's coverage of Sierra Trek '97.

Click here to view Off-Road.com's new coverage of CA4WDC's 1999 Winter Fun Fest.

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For more information about the Sierra Trek event, please visit the CA4WDC web site.

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CA4WDC Sierra Trek @ Off-Road.com