Capitol Reef National Park. October 5

Great stern towering cliffs crumbling in geologic time. A lonely drive past the orchards into an old wash. Signs posted at the edge of the road: warning, radioactivity. Explanatory signs pointed out the tiny one-man sized holes in the far cliff walls. A hundred years ago men would crawl inside to claw out the yellow rock filled with radium. The signs warned visitors not to drink the water or stay longer than 12 hours. We drove down the road back to the orchards; had pie and ice cream. All I wanted was the ease, the comfort, of Missouri. You can grow things there. Rivers and rich earth. No carcinogenic lonely little holes in the crumbling walls of the canyon.