We Were Successful!

Sometime in the past year, I read a blog post with a picture of the House on Fire Ruins in Utah. The photo was spectacular and when I realized we could easily hike there while staying in Blanding, it was high on our list of things to do. The ruins are granaries that were used by Ancestral Puebloan (or Anasazi) settlers who lived in cliff houses along Mule Canyon. The visitor center had given us a map to the area and I found a photographic site online that also gave directions.

After paying for a BLM permit ($2 per person per day), we hiked up the canyon. The trail was fairly easy to follow and we could always go down into the stream bed if we didn't like the path along stream side.

The canyon was pretty.

We passed a hiker and he said we couldn't miss House on Fire. When we got there, this group of men from Waco, Texas, assured us we had found House on Fire.

The rock formations above the ruins look like flames on sunny days when the reflected light in the canyon is just right--sometime between 10 and 11 am. If you take photos from the wrong place, this is the view you get.

The photographic hints I read on line said "X marks the spot." This is the X.

Here are two cell phone photos that have not been edited.

Here are two photos from a cell phone and my Canon where I used Picasa editing tools to enhance the color.

I was so glad we had a clear day and arrived in time to get these photos.