Mount Ord

The trip up Mount Ord is over a forest service road that's a mix of dirt and gravel with some embedded/exposed rock here and there that any vehicle can navigate easy enough. The views are stunning and just keep getting better as you climb and watch the desert give way to a forested mountain. The end of the road is a large dirt turnout area, so if your goal is to reach the 7,128' top where the antennas are, you need to park here and hike the last 1,000' or so up the gated service road. While the main road is pretty easy, if you take any of the side roads, be warned that most of those can get considerably rougher and should be left to high clearance 4WD vehicles - not that it's super extreme or anythign, but your Subaru probably won't come away unscathed.

FR 1688 is an offshoot of the main Mt. Ord trail. FR 1688 is a narrow, twisty road, wide enough for one vehicle, with some tight turns that may have washout. There are few, if any (I don't exactly remember) places to turn around until you get to the top. The trail is slightly overgrown, so expect a decent amount of pinstripes. The top of the trail is located at coordinates 33.90686, -111.42007. YOU SHOULD TURN AROUND HERE. If you take the trail further, the road gets bad, very quickly narrows and tilts sideways. You will have your right tires hugging the edge of a ledge. This portion of the trail abruptly ends and you cannot turn around. You will have to back up approximately 115 yards up hill, around a slight curve, tilted toward the edge, and hugging the edge with your right tires just to reach a very small, uncomfortable spot to turn around. This section of the road is dangerous and there is a real possibility of sliding over the edge. So again, stop and turn around at the top (33.90686, -111.42007).

We came in from Slate Creek on the north end of the trail labeled FR27. This is definitely not a 3 rated trail. Very steep off camber sections, tight switchbacks and washouts. Very deep crevices and rocky outcroppings. Turns into a graded forest road near the intersection of FR 626 near the tree line. This trail needs to be changed from green to black on the App.

Easy trail, trail to little Ord is single lane track with no camping and very few turn offs. FYI