FKT: Marcy Beard - Ashdown Gorge R2R - 2024-08-07

Athletes
Route variation
out & back
Multi-sport
No
Gender category
Female
Style
Supported
Start date
Finish date
Total time
9h 10m 5s
Report

We're in the Cedar City area for a few days, looking for places to explore.  Ashdown Gorge seemed interesting, having seen Cedar Breaks NM from the top.  I was curious why no one had run the FKT yet - perhaps I should try it and report back.  A bit of research on the trails suggested Potato Hollow might be a bit challenging to follow.

I started down the Blowhard Trail (good views!), finding it just as steep as reported.  No problem on foot, not something I'd want to take a bike on.  Soon I was on the Potato trail.  It appears like a route that equestrians sometimes use, and it was in decent (although not ideal) condition.  There are ways around the larger down trees.  There's a long section of overgrown grass - no problem traveling through it but my shoes got squishy from the morning dew.  

Just past the intersection with the Long Hollow trail, there's a large fallen aspen tree.  The trail isn't obvious from that spot and I tried a couple directions before tracing it down with the track on my phone.  Ah ha, it's actually up to the right as a switchback.

Once over the little saddle it's a nice downhill run to the dirt road (even saw a couple "TRAIL" signs).  I found the turnoff toward Ashdown Creek just fine, then made my second error when I missed the left-turn switchback at the cairn.  I decided not to hop rocks across the creek and just waded through (easy peasy).  If you're looking to filter water, I'd hold off for Rattlesnake Creek instead of this rather-silty option.

The whole area down in the gorge looks fun to explore, but I had places to be that day.  Potato Trail traverses around to Rattlesnake Trail which I was hoping was in better condition.  Indeed, it gets more foot traffic.  Some traverses could use a little love to widen the path, but it was a straightforward climb out.  More nice views of the Cedar Breaks geology.

One fun feature of this route is glimpsing the Blowhard Mountain radar tower from different angles - you can often see where you started as you work your way around the giant "C".

A couple intersections led a short way to overlooks, which are worth the quick out and back.  I saw a family of 4 up here, for a total of 5 people I saw all day (including one guy with a backpack).  Then it was a smooth run over to the Rattlesnake Creek trailhead at the road.  Fun first half, in 4:37.

John helped me with a water refill (this would be an easy spot for a self-supported water stash) and I turned around to reverse steps for the other half of the rim-to-rim-to-rim.  I ended up running the second half faster than the first, so I'm submitting that part as a "One Way" effort and the rest of my write-up and pictures are in that report.

I got back to the start in 9:10, happy with this choice for a day of exploration!