Mule Canyon and Butler Wash

We left early to hike to House on Fire Ruins. They say if you get there early, when the sun comes over the ridge and hits the ruins, the site is spectacular.

The coloring in the rock make it look like there are flames shooting out of the ruins.

More handprints on the cliff walls.

Max and I hiked another 2 miles or so down the canyon and found more ruins.

The wash was dry the day we hiked, but you could see the flattened grass showing where the flash flood from a few days earlier had raged.

The grass would have been standing tall, like above, if not for the flooding.

Max climbed up to these ruins, but I stayed down below.  It worked out because I could take this picture.
While at the House on Fire Ruins, we met some people who told us about the Ballroom Cave and Ruins.  So the next day we all head out to find these ruins.  It's a good thing we also looked up the info before hand since the people gave us the wrong directions.

The Ballroom Cave and Ruins are in the area of Butler Wash, north of Hwy 95.

Here is where they ground their corn.  That is an old, dried up, mummified corn cob in the lower left.

There were 2 caves.  They are not connected today, but there have been some rock falls.  Maybe they were once connected.  Looking out of one side to the other, you can see ruins at the mouth of the lower cave.

There were walls and ruins built inside the cave as well as outside.

And of course, more handprints.

You might not be able to make it out, but there is a pictograph of a person (red paint), to the left of the hands.

I was impressed because these ruins have not been stabilized or reconstructed, yet the roof of this ruin was still partially in tact.

Climbing down was a bit tricky.  I'm sure Bertie was glad she had her pole.