Today as I was starting my drive home from Estes Park back to Nederland, the car in front of me swerved quickly as if to avoid something. Good thing I have anti-lock brakes, because a moment later I found out what that something was when a large bull elk was standing about 5 feet in front of my car on the road. I have to admit, I had the initial instinct most tourists do, and wanted to grab my iPhone to snap a quick photo of this impressive animal. Then I realized he had two companions right behind him — all large male elk with big racks (antlers). It’s moments like these that again make me realize what a special place we live in. It also makes me realize how different my commute is from almost all my friends around other parts of the country. One night while driving to the Nederland market, I almost ran into two moose standing in the middle of the road. After posting about this on Facebook, a friend of mine who lived in Philadelphia replied, “I guess you know you’re not in Philadelphia anymore!” And so it goes when commuting in the mountains of Colorado.
I drive one hour each way (that’s not so unique), but rather than being bumper to bumper on some highway, I am driving on a winding, curvy 2-lane road called the Peak to Peak Highway. It is considered one of the most scenic drives in the front range of Colorado. I don’t have traffic per se, other than an occasional tourist (see earlier post titled Turtles), but we have our own kind of traffic jams to worry about — elk jams. The elk are plentiful along the highway, and especially on the outskirts of Estes Park, where they can be seen not only in Rocky Mountain National Park, but all over town. You can always tell when there’s elk near the roadway, by the “elk jam” of cars, who stop on the road, by the road or off the road. Somehow, when we as people, see a magnificent wild animal, all logical thought of how to drive goes out the window, and the roads become a parking lot.
One evening I was driving home around dusk, and I encountered a different kind of driving problem concerning elk. As I drove up the road in the dim light, I realized there was close to one hundred elk standing on the road, and on both sides of the road. It was a sight to behold. And that’s about all I did for the next several minutes, since when a 700-pound creature is blocking your progress, there’s not much you can do except be patient and admire the view!
