Ballroom Cave Ruins

Last Sunday we decided to hike Upper Butler Wash.  We have tried before, but failed horribly.  I guess while searching for information I didn't realize that the Butler Wash and Upper Butler Wash have separate trail heads.  Oops! 

Here is a picture of City venturing out on a tree with Chris.  He wasn't as scared as I expected him to be.

When we finally reached Ballroom Cave Ruins we were surprised that some of the ruins were down in a cave (but I guess the name of the ruins would have given it away).  You travel about 35 feet down into the main cave and two side caves.  It was considerably cooler down in the cave and very interesting to see.

This is a view of the top.  You can see the wall that served as a lookout for the residents of Ballroom Cave Ruin.  It was precariously perched on top of loose boulders.

Here are some light pictographs painted on the wall.  If you can't see it, there are three figures painted in orange, yellow, and red. 

These were some ruins further up the canyon in a different cave.  I don't know if they are technically called Ballroom Cave Ruins, but they were pretty cool.  This ruin was perched on top of a whole lot of sand.  Surprisingly the sand resembled that of the finest beaches in Hawaii :) We took a mini-vacation while we were out having fun!

Here is a picture of City enjoying the sand in front of a granary.  City loved the coolness of the sand a little too much.  He rolled around in it while we rested.

To get up to the ruins pictured above, we had to climb up this rickety ladder.  I am a lot shorter than Chris and struggled with getting on the top of the sand.  The next problem we faced was getting City up and down this old ladder.  He is so curious that he wants to try everything and he will not allow us to go on ahead and leave him behind! 

 The solution that we came up with involved Chris, City, and that rickety ladder.  I was surprised that City was so calm in Chris' arms, but I'm glad he was... otherwise he would have dropped to a painful landing 20 feet bellow!

I had a lot of fun getting up and down that ladder, but needed assistance from Chris.  He eventually lodged his hand underneath my rump and pushed!!!  Thankfully I latched onto a tree lodged above the ladder and clambered my way up. 

The ladder doesn't look so imposing when GIANT Chris stands on it.  We finally got down after resting for an hour and realized that we had forgotten City's Tupperware filled with water on top.  When Chris went to go grab it City went crazy!!!  He barked his head off and tried to climb up the ladder on his own.  It was a little funny to watch.  Luckily I was able to get this one awesome picture!  If you can see, City has his head between the ladder and his tongue is actually hanging out!  City is such an awesome puppy!!!

We headed out after seeing the second ruin because we were so flippin tired.  There is one more ruin in this particular canyon called Target Ruin.  Apparently you can't climb up to the ruin, but you can see the entire front from ground level.  There is even a completely intact mud roof on one of the rooms.  I wish we had gone to this last ruin, but I was completely zapped of all strength.  The sun really got to me during this hike, but it was fun anyway!