Oh No - Not Another Ruin !!!

But first, some more on how to photograph House on Fire Ruin in the last post. The sandstone rocks above the ruin are naturally yellow/orange, which causes the flame effect.

I had read that 10:00am was the magic time when the sun reflected off the "ground rocks" to create the fire effect. The ruin itself is still in the shade, so set your white balance on "shade" or "cloudy." We waited around 45 minutes for the magic to occur, but honestly my earlier pictures were better.

The next day, we hiked up a different canyon to Ballroom Cave. Since I like to dance, I couldn't wait to see the dance floor. I could tell there had recently been a fast water flow through the wash. We'd had a big rain and all the reeds were flattened.

The Ballroom Ruin is up there in that alcove.

Whew! Made it! If you look carefully you can see their picture window.

And look at this - prehistoric tiny corn cobs! (I'm not teasing here - these are real, although they've probably been gathered and placed in this fireplace in recent times.)

There are many places below Tom's feet where the corn was ground.

I sure hope this isn't how the roof is being held up...

I don't know where the ballroom floor was - it's pretty rocky in here!

Outside was a ruin with some of the roof intact.

On the back wall are some pictographs that are a little difficult to see.

All in all, a pretty good day! I guess I'm not "ruined out" yet.