Trip Stats
Location: Utah's Dixie National Forest - Cedar City Ranger District, Ashdown Gorge Wilderness. Overview: Begin Rattlesnake Trail just past the northern boundary of Utah's Cedar Breaks National Monument heading west toward Rattlesnake Creek and Ashdown Gorge Wilderness. Descend 2,500 feet through picturesque forest and meadows with short side trails to view Cedar Break's dramatically eroded Claron Formation rocks to Rattlesnake Creek and the top of Rattlesnake Falls, where a short jaunt on Potato Hollow Trail drops you into Ashdown Creek. It becomes a gorge with towering, oftentimes overhanging walls. Walk in and out of the cool stream numerous times, observing ripple panels and fossils from rocks that were part of an interior sea during Cretaceous times. Distance: 10.0 miles Ascent/Descent: 590'/3,652' (from 10,500' to 7,100'). Date Hiked: June 13, 2025 Maps and Apps: AllTrails tracks, Trails Illustrated Cedar City Markagunt Plateau #702, USGS 7.5 min. topo maps for Flanigan Arch and Brian Head quads. Start Trailhead on Utah Highway 143: 37.66257, -112.83772 at Mammoth Summit. End Trailhead on Utah Highway 14: 37.63463, -112.94357 Trailhead location google maps Considerations: Check weather conditions upstream for Cedar Breaks NM or Cedar City before venturing into Ashdown Gorge. We wear old trail running shoes or light hiking shoes because of numerous stream crossings, and we use a pole for balance in deeper waters. Geology: the orange rocks of Cedar Breaks NM are the Claron Formation of limestone, mudstone and sandstone that was deposited in Lake Claron ~ 60 million years ago. This is the same formation that makes up the Bryce Canyon rocks. Ashdown Gorge records rocks that formed in an inland sea (see For the Geocurious at end of post).
Hike Summary 0 - 4.0 miles: Rattlesnake Creek Trailhead at 10,500' to Rattlesnake Creek at 8,000 feet. 4.0 - 5.3 miles: walk along Rattlesnake Creek's north side to intersection with Potato Hollow Trail and High Mountain Trail. 5.3 - 6.5 miles: Follow Potato Hollow Trail to Ashdown Creek to start walking in creek. 6.5 - 7.6 miles: Ashdown Creek to confluence of Rattlesnake Creek/Ashdown Creek. 7.6 - 10.00 miles: Through Ashdown Gorge to lower trailhead, passing Crow Creek where it turns into a short section through Coal Creek - walk up steep hillside to parking lot with second car. |
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Sue and Fred
Exploration documentaries – "explorumentaries" list trip stats and highlights of each hike or bike ride, and add interesting history or geology. Years ago, I wrote these for friends and family to let them know what my husband, Fred and I were up to on weekends, and also to showcase the incredible land of the west. |
This 3,000-foot descent allows the rare opportunity to follow the evolution of a of major creek that has drained the colorful highlands above it for millions of years to carve out one of the most beautiful and deepest gorges in the west. You begin this 10-mile journey in the fir and pine forest of Ashdown Gorge Wilderness at 10,500 feet elevation, with its open meadows and views from the top of the Markagunt Plateau and then descend steeply to the top of Rattlesnake Creek Falls. Potato Hollow Trail links a toe ridge between Rattlesnake and Ashdown Creeks, where you descend into it. Ashdown's walls grow steeper as you descend, becoming a gorge with many creek crossings. After ten miles, you climb out of the gorge to lower Ashdown Gorge Trailhead at 7,100 feet.
What I love about this hike is that it's so different from the red rock Navajo and Kayenta Sandstone terrain of Zion. Rocks formed from marine, beaches and lagoon settings make up the stunning walls of Ashdown Gorge starting at about 8,500 feet in elevation. Above these layers, while you are still descending into Rattlesnake Creek, the famous Claron Formation at 10,000-9,000 feet elevation is revealed in the bright orange and red hoodoos, points and fins of Cedar Breaks.
This hike requires a shuttle (2 cars), so Jeff, Lindy, Fred and I met at the lower Ashdown trailhead, which is actually a large parking lot on Highway 14 leading out of Cedar City (Trailhead on Utah Highway 14: 37.63463 -112.94357 - Trailhead location google maps). We completed the hike in 5 1/2 hours on this perfect weather June day. We had checked to make sure there was no forecast of thunderstorms. We celebrated at Centro Pizza in Cedar City (called simply "Cedar" by locals) afterwards.
We've hiked up from the bottom of Ashdown Gorge to Rattlesnake Creek Falls a few times. It was great to see the creek above the falls this time and especially awesome to experience the forest, since we all live near St. George, where trees are much more scarce.
There's a great place to take a lunch break, four miles into the hike, in the shade on the south shore of Rattlesnake Creek before crossing it. After crossing, hike 1.3 miles to an intersection with Potato Hollow Trail to the left and High Mountain Trail to the right. We went further down Ashdown Creek a short distance to the top of Rattlesnake Creek Falls, where you can see the canyon floor beneath, with no way to get down except rappel, but the climbing anchor in the rock above looked pretty old.
We returned to Potato Hollow trail, which dropped us in between the cliff walls of Ashdown Creek. As you walk in and out of the water over many rocks, the walls close in, towering cliffs with pines growing out of them. My favorite sites are those of preserved mud flats and ripples, and also fossil oyster beds - rocks that formed during Cretaceous time when there was a Western Interior Seaway in this part of Utah.
Two landmarks I always look for in Ashdown are Flanigan Arch and my favorite boulder, or more accurately, an enormous chunk of cliff wall that takes up most of the shore near the middle of the gorge (see below). I've got Flanigan Arch flagged on my map app because it's easy to miss: it spans the cliffs high up on the skyline. It's ~ 8.6 miles from the Rattlesnake Creek Trailhead, and ~1.3 miles from the bottom trailhead.
What I love about this hike is that it's so different from the red rock Navajo and Kayenta Sandstone terrain of Zion. Rocks formed from marine, beaches and lagoon settings make up the stunning walls of Ashdown Gorge starting at about 8,500 feet in elevation. Above these layers, while you are still descending into Rattlesnake Creek, the famous Claron Formation at 10,000-9,000 feet elevation is revealed in the bright orange and red hoodoos, points and fins of Cedar Breaks.
This hike requires a shuttle (2 cars), so Jeff, Lindy, Fred and I met at the lower Ashdown trailhead, which is actually a large parking lot on Highway 14 leading out of Cedar City (Trailhead on Utah Highway 14: 37.63463 -112.94357 - Trailhead location google maps). We completed the hike in 5 1/2 hours on this perfect weather June day. We had checked to make sure there was no forecast of thunderstorms. We celebrated at Centro Pizza in Cedar City (called simply "Cedar" by locals) afterwards.
We've hiked up from the bottom of Ashdown Gorge to Rattlesnake Creek Falls a few times. It was great to see the creek above the falls this time and especially awesome to experience the forest, since we all live near St. George, where trees are much more scarce.
There's a great place to take a lunch break, four miles into the hike, in the shade on the south shore of Rattlesnake Creek before crossing it. After crossing, hike 1.3 miles to an intersection with Potato Hollow Trail to the left and High Mountain Trail to the right. We went further down Ashdown Creek a short distance to the top of Rattlesnake Creek Falls, where you can see the canyon floor beneath, with no way to get down except rappel, but the climbing anchor in the rock above looked pretty old.
We returned to Potato Hollow trail, which dropped us in between the cliff walls of Ashdown Creek. As you walk in and out of the water over many rocks, the walls close in, towering cliffs with pines growing out of them. My favorite sites are those of preserved mud flats and ripples, and also fossil oyster beds - rocks that formed during Cretaceous time when there was a Western Interior Seaway in this part of Utah.
Two landmarks I always look for in Ashdown are Flanigan Arch and my favorite boulder, or more accurately, an enormous chunk of cliff wall that takes up most of the shore near the middle of the gorge (see below). I've got Flanigan Arch flagged on my map app because it's easy to miss: it spans the cliffs high up on the skyline. It's ~ 8.6 miles from the Rattlesnake Creek Trailhead, and ~1.3 miles from the bottom trailhead.
It's easy to miss Flanigan Arch (left), formed in sandstone of the Iron Springs Formation.
A huge cliff chunk of rock is one of my favorite sites in Ashdown Gorge.
A huge cliff chunk of rock is one of my favorite sites in Ashdown Gorge.
Ashdown Creek's water flow was low this year, as we haven't had much rainfall this summer. This time we could see the bright and multi-colored rocks under the flowing water: other times, our creek crossings were through higher, siltier water, especially in the spring with the snow run-off from further up in Cedar Breaks.
You don't have to do this 10-mile hike through most of Ashdown to gain its benefits. A walk just a few miles into the gorge from the bottom is relaxing. The sound of the rushing water, the numerous shapes of the tree-lined cliffs, the soft colors and the many places to sit on the shore and take it in is good for the soul.
Keep on exploring!
Keep on exploring!
Rattlesnake Creek Trailhead at UT Highway 143 just past the northern border of Cedar Breaks National Monument.
We will have to go sometime to check out the Bristlecone pines!
We will have to go sometime to check out the Bristlecone pines!
Descending the forest through Ashdown Wilderness just north of Cedar Breaks National Monument, including a spur trail to a killer view of the Claron Formantion rocks in the monument (upper left).
Pass some beautiful meadows on the way down to Rattlesnake Creek.
Clockwise from upper left: Jeff found a tiny horned lizard!, Jeff and Fred descending to creek, looks like Claron Formation rocks to me, Lindy and Sue in one of the meadows.
Clockwise from upper left: Jeff found a tiny horned lizard!, Jeff and Fred descending to creek, looks like Claron Formation rocks to me, Lindy and Sue in one of the meadows.
Reaching Rattlesnake Creek.
Clockwise from upper left: almost down to the creek, top of Rattlesnake Falls, the narrow canyon near the base of Rattlesnake Creek Falls, Jeff and Lindy in Rattlesnake Creek, close to Rattlesnake Creek Falls in Ashdown Gorge.
Clockwise from upper left: almost down to the creek, top of Rattlesnake Falls, the narrow canyon near the base of Rattlesnake Creek Falls, Jeff and Lindy in Rattlesnake Creek, close to Rattlesnake Creek Falls in Ashdown Gorge.
Take a left onto Potato Hollow Trail; we are getting close to Ashdown Creek.
A view of Cedar Breaks ahead (left), and Ashdown Creek below us (right), we'll soon be walking through those steep walls.
A view of Cedar Breaks ahead (left), and Ashdown Creek below us (right), we'll soon be walking through those steep walls.
Potato Hollow Trail's intersection with Ashdown Creek; now we just get to walk down through the gorge!
Ashdown Creek has carved out beautiful grottos and overhangs along the way. Note the weathering of the rock above.
Lindy on one of many stream crossings. You can barely see Jeff ahead in between the bright light and the huge cliff on the right.
On another Ashdown Gorge foray a few years ago: on this hike, we went to Rattlesnake Creek Falls and Lake Creek Falls.
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Ashdown Gorge's overhanging walls. For scale, note two hikers lower right in the upper right image.
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Check out the tafoni, or honeycombed weathering on the walls.
Tom's Thumb, a monolith at the confluence of Ashdown Creek and Rattlesnake Creek, is the landmark where you hike up to Rattlesnake Creek Falls (canyon to the left of Tom's Thumb).
Photo of Fred's shorts taken for my review of Kuhl's Renegade Shorts.
Photo of Fred's shorts taken for my review of Kuhl's Renegade Shorts.
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Working our way down-canyon.
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Some photos are from different Ashdown forays. Preserved ripples in third photo down on left.
The walls in the second photo down from the left remind me a bit of Zion's Subway hike.
The walls in the second photo down from the left remind me a bit of Zion's Subway hike.
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For the Geocurious: Rocks created in an interior sea
The walk through Ashdown Gorge is a journey through what was the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway that transgressed (filled) and regressed (emptied), leaving behind evidence such as oyster and other mollusk fossils. Mountain building during this time created a basin that collected thousands of feet of sediment where this inland sea existed. According to the geologic map for this area, this hike begins in the Dakota Formation, a ledge-forming, yellowish-brown, fine- to medium-grained sandstone and siltstone and gray smectitic (clay) mudstone. As you walk further upstream, inside the narrower Ashdown Gorge, you enter into the Straight Cliffs Formation in which marine deposition stopped as the inland sea slowly withdrew in a beach and lagoon environment next to a coastal plain. You can't miss the bold, cliff-forming walls of this formation. At the top of these walls, the Smoky Hollow and John Henry members of the Straight Cliff Formation were deposited in a river and floodplain environment. The Claron Formation, famous for its eroding hoo doos in Cedar Breaks and Bryce Canyon further to the east was deposited ~ 50 million years ago, rises still further above, reaching 10,000 feet of elevation at Cedar Breaks. The highest elevation on the Markagunt plateau is Brian Head Peak at over 11,000 feet.
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The cliffs of the Straight Cliffs Formation - lower Ashdown Gorge
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(Left): A portion of the geologic map that shows the dark green tributaries of Ashdown Creek and Shooting Star Creek that form Ashdown Gorge. The red rocks of Cedar Breaks are represented by the orange unit.
From Biek, R., et. al. 2015. Geologic Map of the Panguitch 30' x 60' Quadrangle, Garfield, Iron, and Kane Counties, Utah. Map 270DM, Utah Geological Society. |
(Right): This hike treks through five rock formations as illustrated on the stratigraphic cross-section of geologic units at Ashdown Creek and Cedar Breaks National Monument. It begins in the Brian Head Formation (Tbh) at ~10,500', then into the White and Red Members of the Claron Formation, followed by the Wahweap Sandstone (TKgw). A great portion of the towering walls of Ashdown Gorge is made of the Straight Cliffs Formation (Kscu) of marine, beach and lagoon sediments that were formed up to 100 million years ago. From Hatfield, S., et al. 2000. Geologic Road Log of Cedar Breaks National Monument. Utah Geological Association Publication 29.
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Google Earth map of our tracks starting from north of Cedar Breaks National Monument, then following Ashdown Creek to parking at bottom.
Caltopo Map of entire 10-mile hike beginning upper right to Highway 14 lower left.
Our tracks at beginning of hike to entrance into Ashdown Creek via Potato Hollow Trail (lower left).
Our tracks at the end of the hike as they go past the confluence of Ashdown and Rattlesnake creeks, and past Flanigan Arch.