Outside of Capitol Reef I passed through the town of Bicknell. A motel was advertising rooms for $24.99. The weather was continuing to look threatening, and it didn't look like a good night for camping, so I checked it out. The rooms were plain, but clean and actually quite large, so I grabbed one before heading to Capitol Reef.

Capitol Reef is a redrock area, like much of northern Arizona. I amused myself for a few hours exploring up a canyon road. Rain was falling, and the going got muddy.

The moisture in the air made long-distance photography a little hazy, but the contrast between the bright red rock and the green juniper trees was striking.

This once was a uranium-mining area, and there are still a few old uranium mines left behind. I came across a few, which were blocked off with steel bars cemented into place.

This was the pair of signs just inside the bars blocking the mine entrance. The top sign warns of radiation in the area, in the local water, etc. The bottom sign, on the other hand, talks about this being a protected habitat for some species of bat.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think this is a formula for a really cheesy grade B direct-to-video sci-fi movie. I'm sure you can figure out the plot - normally harmless insectovorous bats take up residence in radiation-contaminated mines, said bats get mutated into giant crazed vicious night-stalkers with an unquenchable hunger for cheeseburgers, causing a crisis in the multi-million-dollar fast food industry as they fly away with entire small sedans snatched right out of the drive-through lane, carrying them, their passengers and their Happy Meals to unexplored places in the canyon country.

OK, well, maybe not.