We hiked in the first 1.75 miles to the rim of Fish Creek canyon which was an impressive vista overlooking Cedar Mesa and the canyon bottom.  We grabbed a great tent site and got some sleep for this 16 mile loop trip we were about to embark on which was going to be quite the hike and rather dry! 

 Once the Sun broke over the horizon we started our way down Fish Creek with the goal to make it to Owl Creek and find a good campsite before heading out the following day.  We negotiated a steep descent down to the bottom of the canyon.

 There is some excellent plunge pools and water that would be great for purifying as you head down the canyon but the water does eventually diminish and I highly recommend filling up your water bottles as you purify this spring water as it will become static and dry up and you will find yourself with very little water for the bottom third of both canyons as well as the connection that needs to be made from Fish to Owl or vice versa.

 There was nothing technical about the canyon and the crux of the loop is the climb in or out of fish creek with a 20ft 5 nothing to scale in order to get to the top. I hand line can be used and might be recommended for lowering packs or for helping people up the crux.

 The canyon itself was spectacular as it slowly dog legged into the connecting canyon and along the way we passed beautiful spires, arches including Nevills Arch in Owl Creek Canyon.

 Both Canyon were similar in flora and geology but I think the fish Creek was a bit more towering than Owl Creek, yet owl Creek had the Ruins which was fascinating to see.

 Finally after passing up a few static pools of water we came up to a perennial flowing stream and spent an hour filtering and boiling water from this location.  It was reviving to get a blast of fresh but smoking hot water into our systems.

 Once this was done, we worked our way up the canyon and found an amazing site to set up camp where the Anasazi must have dwelled 1000 years ago. We made sure that we set up camp far away from any potential artifact and paid close attention to where we were walking as this site had some artifacts.  

 We pondered what the Anasazi hunted, and otherwise thought why this would be the best place for them to set up shelter, yet staring into the canyon wall and thinking that this is the same site that they say 1000 years ago was almost like a time machine of sorts that took us back to their time.  

Than my big Anges tent started flopping in the wind and quickly snapped back into reality that we have it so good and so much easier than how life must have been in Americas past.

 The stars were shinning bright that night and day light came quick so we packed up and headed out to complete the circuit on this loop.

 It took a bit longer than expected but eventually we came up to some beautiful hanging garden plunge pools and more ruins that were easy to spot.

 There was some interesting picto panel on the ceiling that showed the hands of the dwellers which almost appeared to be hobbit like.