As more and more moose, deer, and elk continue to populate the Nederland area as well as other foothill towns, wildlife crossing signs appear along our major roadways such as Boulder Canyon, Peak to Peak Highway and others. You can tell a lot about mountain sense of humor by looking more closely at these signs, most of which feature a black silhouette of said animal to communicate in all languages that wildlife are likely to cross the roadway.
In Boulder Canyon, we have the “hula hoop” moose — a moose sign with a pink hula hoop affixed around him. Now that would be something to see! In Sunshine Canyon, heading west out of Boulder is one of my favorite — the cowboy riding elk! Not sure how someone managed that one as you can’t see the delineation of the silhouette of the cowboy complete with cowboy hat that appears to be riding the elk.
When you drive these roads often, and you’re in a hurry to get home, you can forget the dangers of wildlife appearing on the roadway. But I’ve had it happen fairly often, and I can tell you that seeing a moose or elk in the middle of the roadway makes you heart skip a beat. Once when I was driving to work at Rocky Mountain National Park, a large bull moose was standing right on the center strip of the road. Fortunately, it was on a straightaway, and I saw him in time to slow down very quickly. One thing I’m sure of is in a battle between the moose and my Subuaru, the moose would win!
Driving up Boulder Canyon carries peril of moose, elk, deer and even bear. A bear crossing the road actually contributed to a fatal accident last year, when a car had to stop suddenly for the bear, and the car behind him couldn’t stop in time, sideswiped the car and ended up flipping into Boulder Creek. Unfortunately, a young girl who was in the car was flung into the river and drowned. I thought of this incident as I was driving home this past fall, and large buck was in the middle of the road — in addition to throwing on the brakes, I immediately looked in my rear view mirror, somewhat afraid I would get rear ended by the driver behind me. That time I escaped.
Though dealing with wildlife crossings is no laughing matter, it’s hard for me not to think of a particular clip when seeing these signs. A friend of ours in Nederland first sent me this clip about a caller on a radio show asking if these signs could be relocated. It may be hard to believe this is a “real” call, but having lived in the mountains and worked in national parks enough to have seen and heard it all, I don’t doubt it for a minute.
