Consolation Prize

We set out on this day to do the Rattlesnake Ridge - Ashdown Creek hike which would have been ten miles with two cars. I have been having trouble with my radiator in my truck for many years now and on this day, those problems came to a head. After leaving Cedar City, my truck overheated for the second time in a month. Not particularly thrilled about this occurrence, I dumped all the water I had into my radiator and the bit of coolant that I had with me, drove the truck down to Cedar City, and left it in a parking lot. Having only one vehicle now for our expedition, Jacqueline and I had no choice but to find an alternative hike. We found a dirt road that did not look to be in too bad of shape, so we took the minivan up it as far as the minivan would go. Luckily, within 100 feet of where we stopped there was a trailhead. We took this trail hoping to find some water along the way, since we used everything that we had for my truck. Unfortunately, this was a ridge trail and while it was a rarely used piece of ground that we had to ourselves on this day, we could not enjoy it for too long being that our thirst was being immediately parched in the dry summer heat. We got some good view into Cedar Breaks, but our hike only lasted an hour about each way. Of course, when we got back, I spotted a spring right near the trailhead that we could have pumped some water from when the hike started. It turned out to be a short day on a trail that I still am not sure what the name of it was and I got to endure the joy taking in my truck to get a new radiator once I was home, but it was all made better when we got to have my favorite meal for dinner - Hot Dish!