Spring Break Part V: House of the Moon.

I had long wanted to see House of the Moon.  The Park Service limits visitors to 20 per day.  Permits available at Kane Gulch Ranger Station about an hour from Bluff.  They opened at 8:00.  The first 12 can be reserved by phone, internet, et and the last eight are saved for walk-ups.  

I was up early and on the road.  I got the last walk-up permit at 8:05.

Moon House in McClure Canyon.  I drove my 4-Runner all the way to the 4WD parking, cutting a mile-plus off my walk.  That, and the reputation of the trail down keep many folks away, but it really was an easy hike.

Moon House famous for the interior painting.

 I was the first person on the site that morning and had two hours before anyone showed up.  I don't think the whole 20 permits were exercised, though there were lost people wandering all over the mesa.

Portholes in the exterior wall.  They look at every approach to the site.

  More painting outside the ruin.  A volunteer site monitor showed up.  He said the zig-zag was a sign of the Eagle Klan and seen at other sites.  Usually snake motifs are a calendar with 13 bends corresponding to the 13 full moons in a year.

Watchtower at the corner of the ruin.

 Trail comes down a rockslide on the left and up the rockslide to the right.  The notorious pour-off feature on the trail in has a reputation as a tricky spot, but it wasn't anything.

Many other small ruins up and down the canyon.

Turkey tracks painted on the roof of a ruin.

Back wall in a four-room ruin down canyon. 

Trail crosses this pour-off.

  Glad to be able to visit.  Carried a Fuji 6X9 camera with 65mm wide-angle built in.  I shot off a tripod and used a level.  I was put off carrying 5X7 because of the reputation of the hike in and the trail down and across.  I started to go back and get my 5X7, but I was more interested in the visit that making an image.  I think the 6X9 was enough.