Leon Turnbull Photography

I think I actually found a road that is worse than Bowman Lake Road. I know, I know, it is hard to believe, and I hate to admit it really, but yeah it does exist. Have you ever driven the road to Fordyce Lake? Well, just don’t, ok. Trust the waterfall guy.

I had never been up to Fordyce Lake before, though I have hiked Fordyce Creek from the bottom, but not all the way up to the lake. It is something like 10 miles one way, so it would be a tad crazy to go all that way to the lake in one day. I am crazy though, but not to do that hike. This week, the powers that be pumped up the volume from the Fordyce Lake dam. It was spitting out at 440 cubic feet per second, which is quite high and rather odd considering it is a drought year. I watched the gauge like a hawk all week long, and I was certain the tap would be shut off before the weekend. Please stay on, please stay on. Friday finally rolled around, and the dam was still cranking out the water. Sweet news!

After work I made the drive up I-80 to Cisco Grove and bounced onto the dirt road going to Fordyce Lake. It is 7 miles to the lake, and the road starts off bumpy and just gets worse from there. It is also a popular road. There was a heckuva lot of traffic on this crazy road, and they all seemed to be zipping up the road at outrageous speeds (ie. much faster than me). I even saw regular cars driving up the road. They weren’t zipping mind you, but it is definitely outrageous to drive up this road in a small car. About a mile before the lake, the road starts going downhill, and gets much worse. Monster ruts. Big rocks. As I started driving down, I realized this was going to be bad. At that point, I did not think I could back up the hill, and I certainly could not turn around. I thought maybe I could go on, and it seemed I had no choice. Big mistake. Within moments, I bottomed out the SUV. I was stuck, and stuck good. I could not go backwards now, that is for sure. There was no one else around. What happened to all that traffic I saw? Where did they all go? Were their little cars swallowed up in one of the ruts? For awhile, I was thinking I might be stuck there all night. Well, it was not too long before some guys in a big truck came up the road from the lake below. They were able to push me out of the rut and once out, I backed up the hill to the top without difficulty and parked. Whew! I realized later that it is actually a good thing I got stuck where I did. If I had managed to get down to the bottom of the road, there is absolutely no way I would have been able to drive back up later that night (when no one would be around to help). Even some trucks I saw afterwards were having troubles going up this hill, including the guys who helped me. I think sometimes God helps us out even in our stupidity, and this was certainly one of those times for me.

Anyway, it was now much later than I anticipated and I still had to walk a mile to the lake. I had grand plans of hiking down the creek quite a distance from the dam but it was too late for that now. I decided on just going to the first waterfall on the creek, Eraserhead Falls, which is the main one I wanted to see anyway. I cut off the main road onto a OHV trail which went down to the creek near the waterfall. There were jeepers down there at the bottom playing around on the big ruts and big rocks. Unfortunately for me, they were right near the waterfall. So my peace and quiet at the falls was ruined by the sounds of the jeepers. They weren’t doing anything wrong, it is an official OHV trail, but it is just a bummer they had to be right there where I wanted to be and at that time. Go home people, this is my waterfall.

Well actually, it is not much of a waterfall to be precise about the matter. It is more of a rapid than a waterfall, and although it may look not too shabby in this photo, it is actually a pretty shallow descent, and not all that impressive. It is a long rapid for sure, but only 20 feet in actual height. I suppose it is the biggest falls on this creek though, the others are all well under 20 ft high. Anyway, I would really like to tell you that I will never ever drive that road again up to Fordyce Lake. It was a nightmare and a half. However … I discovered a new waterfall while I was here, and although it was not flowing much, it is a big one, and I definitely will need to come back here in the spring sometime to see it when it is gushing. So brave the road again, I will.