Ashdown Gorge

So on a Saturday I was asked the question, "Where do you want to adventure tomorrow?". There were many possibilities but I decided to go with "let's see how I feel in the morning" as there was a large celebration happening that night I felt it was a very valid response. Well when morning came I awoke and said "let's do Ashdown Gorge!". Which of course came the reply "really!?!". I answered "well yes, really". By now it was already noon and I put together a fine bagel sandwich breakfast for both my girlfriend and myself. Then we began preparing for our hike of the day. I asked fatman if he was interested but he seemed to be more interested in having a lazy day around the apt, later I find out he did go on a small hike somewhere up canyon. Ashdown Gorge is a 13 mile hike that starts up in cedar breaks national monument (approximate. 8000' elev.) and returns about 2/3 of the way back to cedar city ending at about 6000' elev. I spent a little while doing the math 13 miles at an approximate speed of 2 mph (which in backcountry hiking is a respectable speed) that meant 6.5 hours of travel so at the latest we had to begin by 2:30pm since the sun would set just a little after 9pm. Also this hike is generally done as a two car hike, one is parked at the bottom and the other is taken to the top to begin the hike. So we prep our gear including a second pair of shoes not something I usually bring but given the nature of the hike and how it transitions, I find it to be valuable enough to make space for. I will also mention that once we were ready for this hike my girlfriend looked a little apprehensive (now keep in mind she has done this hike twice and attempted it one other time, but weather did not permit.) I inquired as to why she was nervous, she said that "this is a little crazy." I replied "I know, but that's my style. "That’s what worries me." she says. I laugh for a while, then I realize she is serious. It was a little crazy given the late start in the day; if anything were to slow us down we would be hiking out in darkness. Also this hike is generally done in late summer or early fall not late spring early summer, we would have higher and colder water, the last few miles is all hiking down a river, hence the change of shoes, cause while fatman may like hiking everywhere in his sandals I prefer a quality hiking boot or shoe. Skipping all the driving we begin right on time.

Part one, a nice walk in the woods. This starts out with a well defined trail and switchbacks and a couple of small paths off to the sides and lookout points. What I noticed first is that there are no signs indicating and of these and that makes me very happy. I always feel robbed of part of my nature experience when all of the trails have been built and reinforced and there are signs every 10 feet telling me either what is a few feet farther on the path that I will see in a minute anyway. It was I delightful walk and after a few miles if that’s all it had been I would have been very content to hike back out but the lure of what laid beyond it drew me on farther.

Part two, the forest opened up into a large open plain. It felt very much like something out of a movie, like traversing the country in Lord of the Rings or something. They were beautiful expanses that many people will miss out on, in their lives.



Part 3, back in the forest, but this time the forest was different, I don’t know if hikers that had done the previous two parts had turned back or just left a lighter footprint but the trail was fainter and wound around a lot more. We had run into numerous downed trees across the paths but there were more here. which brings me to another point, there was much evidence that trees had fallen across the path in previous years, but someone had come thru and chopped them up to move them from the trail. who does this and how can I get that job, is it part of the forest service to send out a ranger with a chainsaw for a few day and hike the trail and make sure it’s clear every year? During this part of the hike i also me a very nice little creature (that i will not currently try to identify because i will be wrong about it) that stopped and posed for a minute so i could get a good picture of him or her. This section also contained a few of the smaller streams that i am now sure ran into the larger river, pictured below. I could definitely do that. We reach the end of part 3 and sit down to have a nice lunch break. We can hear the river running somewhere close but can’t actually see it. While eating I estimate we have hiked about 9 of the 134 miles and only have a little bit left to go. We pack up our belongings and get back on the trail. What do we find around the next bend?

Part 4, the river, feeling slightly silly for being so close and not realizing it, we stop and take a short break to make a shoe change into proper water footwear. I also pack away my camera, as we find that due to the snow pack still melting the river is higher than "normal" and also moving with a much faster current. We are both accustomed to hiking rivers and hop right in. IT IS COLD. We keep up a good pace and bounce in and out of the water as the way the river carved it with many twists and turns you must constantly cross it. If it were warmer, shallower, and\or slower than we would have probably just walked down it but this was not the case today. It felt like it was taking forever to make any progress. Eventually we hit a spot where we could walk on land and we both noticed how tired we were quickly becoming. I had spent some time earlier how the freezing water wasn’t helping our energy level; it is cold enough that our bodies much use extra energy to reheat our legs every time we enter the water. On top of this it’s starting to get late, still on track for my timeline but I hadn’t accounted for the fact that it is dark in the steep canyons now and therefore colder as well. After another mile we find the area where it opens up and the water level drops and shortly we see a person walking his dog up the river so we know we are very close. Around the next bend we see the car a little ways off and are on our way out.
This is a great hike and if you are every in the area and have the time to do it I highly recommend it. One of the big lessons I learned on this trip is that a hiking pole is a wonderful thing for hiking down or up a river, I had not taken one into a river with me before, but now I will every time.

"Don't get stuck on limitations, focus instead on solutions."