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6.5 Fordyce Falls
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Location: Emigrant Gap, Tahoe National Forest, Nevada County
Height: 13 ft.
Access:  
Distance: 8.0 miles (RT)
Elevation: 5350 ft. (-300 ft., + 250 ft.)
Season: Apr-Jul
Difficulty: 
Lat/Long:39.35891, -120.60161
Directions:From Auburn, drive east on I-80 for 40 miles to the Hwy 20 exit to Nevada City. Drive west on Hwy 20 for 4.3 miles to Bowman Lake Rd (Road 18). Turn right and drive about 3.6 miles to Fuller Lake.
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Fordyce Falls, aka In Your Face Falls, is a small but decent 13 ft. waterfall along Fordyce Creek near Emigrant Gap. Fordyce Creek is a popular kayaking run from Fordyce Lake down to Spaulding Lake, and there are quite a number of nice rapids and small falls along the creek. Fordyce Falls is the namesake waterfall of the run. Just below this waterfall is Split Falls, a 15 ft. high drop. There are perhaps one or two other smaller drops further upstream.
It is quite a long hike to get out to Fordyce Falls and the reward at the end of it (two small waterfalls) is perhaps not really worth the effort. This is probably why it took me so many years to get out to them. Nonetheless, the waterfalls on Fordyce Creek are pretty nice, as long as the creek is flowing well. If you do go, make sure the creek is flowing by checking dreamflows.com. There is an upstream dam at Fordyce Lake that controls the amount of flow in Fordyce Creek, and you will want to make sure it is not low. When I was here, the flow was just less than 300 cfs.
Start hiking at the outlet to Fuller Lake on Bowman Lake Road. Follow along the canal from the outlet about 10 minutes or so. The trail eventually crosses the canal on a little bridge, then continues on a dirt road. After about a half mile of hiking you come to a junction of 3 or 4 roads. Take the 2nd road from the right. They are not marked in any way so be careful to take the right road (a GPS is helpful). This road continues on down to a second junction with a sign (on a tree) indicating to go right, marked as the Spaulding Lake Trail. The trail then becomes a single track, and shortly crosses under a conduit, and shortly thereafter you cross the outlet from Fuller Lake. There is a waterfall here, if it is flowing. And if water is being released from Fuller Lake, there is a very good chance that you will not be able to cross this stream. But if you can, continue on across on the trail. It leads down to Spaulding Lake, and you will cross under another conduit there, continuing left and following the lake to the end.
At the end of Spaulding Lake, the trail continues up Fordyce Creek. You should be able to hear the creek, but the trail does not follow it too closely. You will wonder if it ever does come back to Fordyce Creek, but eventually it does, right at the base of Fordyce Falls. It is definitely a pretty little falls.
Once here, do not forget to visit Split Falls, which is just downstream. To get it though, you need to backtrack on the main trail to a bit of a clearing, where you can easily make your way across the granite rocks to the creek. You should be able to spot Split Falls once you get over to the creek. In addition to seeing Split Falls, you may also wish to continue following the trail upstream from Fordyce Falls. I believe it goes all the way to Fordyce Lake, and there are other rapids along the way, though I am not sure how closely the trail follows the creek and how many of them you can see.
Zoom out on map to see all nearby waterfalls:
Other waterfalls nearby:
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