Ben is an Anasazi addict. Beth is becoming an Anasazi addict. I am a full-bore Anasaziphile. Ely likes canyons and ruins as well. So its natural that come Labor Day, we'd be planning a trip out into Anasaziland. I initially wanted to go back to Chaco Canyon, but time constraints (I didn't have Saturday off work) prevented this plan from becoming reality. There was also brief talk about going to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. In the end, however, we opted for Natural Bridges and Cedar Mesa.

A sad-looking tent in the rain at Natural Bridges. Someone forgot the poles for the rainfly.
We arrived just in time. About two hours after we showed up, the campground filled up. And about an hour after we arrived, the rain came down. Once again, there was only one cloud in the sky. And once again, it dumped on us. Hard. After hastily putting up the tents in a precursor precipitation, we all ducked into Beth's Escape to Escape from the rain.

A sad-looking Buster huddles in the back of the Escape.
We passed the time with a game or two of Uno, and when the rain finally stopped, we decided to do the loop drive and see the sights. First was Sipapu Bridge. Unfortunately, the canyon rim viewpoints aren't very flattering, so we didn't stay long. We continued on to Kachina Bridge, where I was met with quite the surprise.

The pourover in Armstrong Canyon, just upstream of its confluence with White Canyon.
Armstrong and White Canyons were flashing! Tons of water was hurtling down the canyon, and the roar of the water going over the pouroff in Armstrong Canyon could be heard even along the rim! I've been hiking in Natural Bridges many times, and I've never seen that much water in the canyons. It was quite remarkable. Perhaps even more so was the fact that there were several hikers in the canyon bottom, trying to figure out how to cross the stream and get back up to the rim. I felt sorry for them - that's not a fun place to be trapped.

Small ruins seen from along the loop drive.
Finally we made it to Owachomo Bridge, smallest and oldest of the three major bridges in the Monument. It also happens to be the easiest to hike down to, so leaving the dogs in the vehicles, we made the quick hike to the stone span. I immediately noticed that the old trail register was gone, which made me sad, since two of our party hadn't used their hiking names yet.

The girls at Owachomo. Beth, Courtney, and Ely, or as they're known on hikes; Fudgesicle, Gumby and Eliminator.
Owachomo was a nice destination, however. I hiked a little bit up Tuwa Canyon, then down Armstrong with Ben for a little bit, while the girls rested on the banks of the muddy Armstrong Creek. Old Zeke Johnson's old trail into the Monument was visible across the canyon, but I wasn't about to cross the stream while it was still flooding.

A nearly-full moon rises under Owachomo Bridge.
The sun was finally setting when we made our way back up to the cars and headed back to the campsite. The skies were clear that night, and we plotted for the next day. The only certain thing was Blanding A&W for lunch - cheese curds had been on the minds of all parties.
We awoke early the next day (at least I did), as the sun was coming up. Despite the downpour the previous afternoon and the resulting sandy tent, all three of us in the large tent slept well. It took a while breaking down camp, partially because some slept later than others, and partially because breaking camp takes longer with a larger group. We finally got things packed, however, and were on the road. Our first stop was going to Flaming Roof again, with possible stops at Cave Towers, Comb Wash, and Butler Wash, depending on time and how people were feeling.
The rain that had promted the flash flood back at Natural Bridges apparently hadn't been as hard on this section of Cedar Mesa. Once we left our vehicles at the trailhead and started hiking the canyon bottom, it appeared that some spots had been dampened, but no real evidence of a big flow was present.

Fresh raven tracks in the mud.
The hiking was easy, and even Courtney, a newcomer to the southwest and the Anasazi had no trouble with the trail. Beth expressed a desire to attempt to locate the ruin herself, without anyone telling her where it was. The hook is set deeper.

A partial projectile point found along the way.
Finally we came to the right bend in the canyon, and without prompting Beth noticed the smoke blackening on the ceiling of a satelite alcove, and then part of a wall from the main ruin. We had arrived.

Beth had seen pictures of this ruin back at our house, and noted when we arrived that the ceiling looking like "a funky hairdoo."
Ben and Ely stayed down with the dogs, while I showed Courtney and Beth around the site. Courtney was especially thrilled by the ruin, having never been to an Anasazi site before. I mainly used the time to locate items of interest to point out to them. Once again, almost no sherds (they don't grow on trees).

Beth takes a picture inside one of the structures.
I also led the group around the corner, to the satelite alcove that Beth had first noticed. We followed some Moki Steps up to the alcove. Despite its cramped size, smoke blackening indicated that people had probably lived here. A delicate jacal wall stood at the back of the structure, and mud "ghost walls" indicated that this section had probably been 50% larger in the late 1200's. We climbed back down to the main ruin.

Stonework on the main ruin.
There was some rock art located around the corner, and so that was our next stop. I knew of one handprint on a boulder face, and so I showed it to them. It was faint, but it was the only one I knew of. Then Beth and Courtney both started spotting handprints, just as faint, above us on another boulder face. I'd never thought to look up. After some scrambling, we were able to see about 10 handprints, and easily photograph 9 of them.

Handprints.
Back in front of the main ruin, there was a small argument between Ely and I over how much I should be watching the dog. The group settled into sort of an uneasy funk. Finally we all headed back downcanyon, towards the trailhead. Once we reached the vehicles, there was a discussion on what to do next. The conclusion was that most everyone was hungry, so we'd beeline for Blanding and the A&W, saving the other ruins for another trip. On the drive into town, as I was pointing out locations of some ruins, and directions to suspected other ones, Beth remarked how cool it would be to come up and camp for a couple days and just explore. I agreed wholeheartedly - I'd like nothing better on my weekends than to be able to head up to Cedar Mesa and just rimwalk or explore the depths. Another convert to the "religion" of ruins.
We ate a satisfying lunch at the A&W, with Cheese Curds for all, and then debated our next move. There was talk of going to see the Edge of the Cedars again, which Ben, Ely, and myself loved during our last visit. The general concensus was sleepiness, however, so we opted to start heading back towards Page, with a stop at Sand Island. After leaving Blanding, Buster, Courtney and Ely all fell asleep, leaving Beth and I to talk. As we arrived in Bluff, I mentioned that I knew that there were some ruins down this one road that I hadn't been too. "They're all asleep, they won't notice," Beth said conspiritorially. We'd passed the turnoff, but I'd been wanting to lay eyes on this site, so we took a driving tour of downtown Bluff (much to Ben's surprise in his truck following us), and continued down the road towards these ruins. We spotted it coming up over a rise, and took the next dirt road towards the river.

Casa del Eco, or Seventeen Room House, on the south bank of the San Juan River.
It was huge! Much larger than I expected it to be. As we bumped along the dirt surface towards the river, our passengers awakened, and I explained the situation. We finally came to a graffiti-ridden parking area next to the river. A dilapidated wooden suspension footbridge crossed the river.

Note the large gaps by Ely's feet, halfway out on the bridge.
Ely scouted out the bridge, and despite the damage found it to be crossable. I said that she should come back because the far side of the river was Navajo Nation, and we'd need a permit to do any hiking over there. As we returned to our vehicles, two vans pulled up. Out hopped a family that had also been present at the A&W. They proceeded to the bridge while we drove back up to the bluff top, for a better view of the ruin, river, and bridge.

The large gaps in the bridge become more obvious.
Viewing the scene from a higher vantage point, it became clear that hiking to the ruin would involve walking past some folks' places, and the distance was longer than it appeared it might be from the river. We decided that we should come back to Bluff with hiking permits and explore this and other ruins in the area. We drove back towards Bluff, noticing other ruins along the way. A quick stop at Sand Island (it was getting hot), and then we were off again, heading back towards Page. Mission accomplished.

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