What Is The “House On Fire” And Where Is It?
The “House On Fire” is a small ancient structure built under a sandstone area that looks a bit like flames are jumping up out of the top of the structures. The structure consists of a series of 5 ancient Puebloan granaries. The structures are large enough for a person to crawl into but due to their delicate nature it is best to view and photograph them from a distance.
The “House On Fire” is located in the Cedar Mesa area of Bears Ears National Monument in Utah. There is a parking area along UT 95 North. The small town of Blanding, Utah is the closest thing that resembles anything like a town close by. The House On Fire is about 24 miles from Blanding, UT. If you are staying in the larger and more popular town of Moab, Utah, it is about 2 hours and a 100 mile drive from Moab to the parking area for the hike in Cedar Mesa to the House On Fire. The hike is about 2.2 miles round trip and a pretty easy one in a relatively flat desert wash.
What Is It Like To Travel To Cedar Mesa And Hike To The House On Fire?
Bears Ears National Monument covers a large area in the desert southwest of the United States. Cedar Mesa is located within Bears Ears. Mule Canyon is the trail you will follow to get to the House On Fire granaries built into the side of the canyon. In the photo you see of the House On Fire, you would think it is a pretty large structure. When you get there you may be quite surprised at just how small it looks in person. These are small structures. One average person may be able to fit in some of these structures. As you hike into Mule Canyon, the House On Fire is located off to the right of the wash. It’s quite easy to walk right by it without even noticing it.
If you want to travel to this area of Utah, keep in mind it is pretty remote. Choice Hotels has a hotel in Blanding, UT and one in Monticello, UT. In addition to those two hotels, there are likely rental homes. There are campgrounds in the area including one at Natural Bridges National Monument that is about a 17 mile, 25 minute drive from the Mule Canyon Trailhead to the House On Fire. Much of the area is remote enough that you can probably just pull over on a back road and drift off to sleep in your car.
The hike out to the House On Fire is a relatively flat easy hike that is about 2.2 miles round trip. You’ll hike through sand and over slickrock and may find some wet spots along the way depending on recent weather. While not a strenuous hike, be sure to take a couple liters of water and possibly more if you’re hiking in the dead of summer or plan to do more than hike to the House On Fire.
Like many other special use areas you’ll have to get a permit to hike to The House on Fire. When I was there, permits were $2.00 per day. Now they are up to $5.00 per day, $10.00 for a one week pass and $40 for an annual pass. You can buy the passes at the trailhead. They can also be purchased online but you get stuck having to pay bogus “service fees” if you buy House On Fire hiking passes at Recreation.gov.
What Does It Take To Get A Wall Art Quality Photo Of The House On Fire?
In order to get a wall art quality photo of the House On Fire, you’ll want to get there where when the weather is nice. Clear sunny skies are the ideal time to photograph the House On Fire. If you can go in the morning, a bit after sunrise, you’ll get a bit more light reflecting in the canyon and up onto the House On Fire. Going earlier in the morning is not going to make a huge difference in the quality of your photo but it will likely make some difference if you are there around 9am or 10am as opposed to mid afternoon.
Since you are down in a canyon, there is little incentive to get there at sunrise or sunset. There are different perspectives you can photograph at the House On Fire so that the skies are in the photograph. If you plan to go for something other than the somewhat standard photo at the House On Fire then it may be worth going at sunrise or sunset. There may be other places along the Mule Canyon Trail that would make good sunrise or sunset photos but I didn’t bother trying to get those.
If you will be in the area you may want to opt for the one week pass at $10 instead of the $5.00 day pass. If the weather doesn’t cooperate one day or the area is rally crowded, the week long pass will give you up to 7 chances to go back to get the perfect shot and explore more of the area.
What Is The Best Gear For Photographing The House On Fire?
When you go to photograph The House On Fire you can get the basic shot with most any camera from a cel phone to the latest mirrorless setup. If you want to get something you can make a nice large wall art print from then you’ll probably want a good DSLR or mirrorless camera with a wide angle lens. For the photo in this article you’ll want a lens that is really wide. Something like a Canon 17-40mm lens will be ideal.
With a lens like that you’ll be able to get closeup wide angle photos. You’ll be able to zoom in as much as you want if you walk back a bit from the House On Fire.
Even though this scene is in a canyon, panoramic photos of the House On Fire can be good. You might want to take a panoramic setup. The hike is short enough that the extra weight isn’t much of a burden if you don’t end up using it.
What Is The Story Behind This House On Fire Photo Print?
When looking through good old fashioned books on the Cedar Mesa area of Utah, I originally came across photos of the House On Fire. Naturally I was captivated by it and had to go figure out where it was and see if I could get there. This photo was take on year three of the 10-year road trip. It was August and relatively hot. I’d most recently spent some time in Moab, UT and decided to head down toward the Canyoonlands Needles District and Banding, UT.
As usual, I had no idea where I planned to stay. I’d spent enough time in Moab and decided it was time to go seek out new awesome sights. The Cedar Mesa area was new to me and a place I’d not seen before. As noted above there were and are at least a couple hotels down there but coming from the Lazy Lizard Hostel that was about $10/night, I wasn’t going to spend $70 or whatever it was for a hotel for a night.
On the way down from Moab, I stopped at Wilson Arch and then continued on down to the turnoff onto Utah 95 and after about 19 miles started looking for the trailhead parking for Mule Canyon. Fortunately the turnoff was easy to spot and there was NOBODY else around. Back in 2013 the House On Fire was still not known at all. Those were the good old days!
After parking along the dirt road, I hopped out of the car and found the trailhead and the fee station. Fortunately I was able to find out about the day use fee before heading down and had a few one dollar bills in the car. After paying for the permit I was off to find the House On Fire. After walking for a while I looked down at the pocket GPS and discovered I’d hiked farther in that I thought I was supposed to.
After continuing on a bit farther to make sure I had in fact walked too far and not far enough, I turned around. I’d hiked about a half mile too far into the canyon. I kept my eyes peeled to the left as I was hiking back in the direction of the car and managed to spot the House On Fire up out of the wash on the left. As noted above it was much smaller than expected. The photo I’d seen in the book gave no indication of the size of the granaries.
After taking a bunch of photos a few other people strolled up. They too expected it to be larger and had a hard time spotting it and were happy to find it when I waved them over to point it out. I didn’t have much else planned to do around there except to head over to Natural Bridges National Monument at some point but I was in no rush to get over there. I hanging around the Mule Canyon area for a few days, and sleeping in my car a few nights around there. The Fallen Roof Ruin is in this general area too and I wandered around till I found that. After those few days it was off to Natural Bridges National Monument to explore some more.
What Formats Is This House On Fire Wall Art Print Available?
This House On Fire wall art print is available in print sizes up to 40×60 inches on paper, metal, acrylic, wood and canvas. If it will be hung in an area with diffused lighting any material and any finish will look good. Metal and acrylic prints as well as glossy or metallic paper or canvas prints will look brighter. I the print will be hung in an area with bright direct light or exposed light bulbs then a matte finish that is not reflective would probably look best. This would include mate canvas or paper prints.
If you’d like something more along the lines of home decor, this print looks great on a shower curtain or Sherpa fleece blanket. Throw pillows can make great accent pieces as well.
Cel phone cases and canvas shopping bags are great items that can be used on a daily basis. The canvas tote bags are extremely well made a durable. They’re great for shopping an even for a day on the beach. It is available on a wide variety of apparel items as well.
Finally, if you’d prefer a brain teaser, this image is available on jigsaw puzzles that come in 500 and 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles.
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