In the Must-See-To-Believe department, I came across this cattle crossing sign in southern Utah, somewhere along UT-24 east of Capitol Reef National Park. The road was on top of a narrow mesa, and the edge of the mesa kept getting closer to each side of the road as I continued east. At some point, I expected the road to end where the two edges converged, hoping, of course, that the highway dept. would have some kind of warning: flashing lights, a dirt pile, orange barrels, black & white barricades, or maybe an Evil Knievel-type ramp to launch you into a 1,000 foot free-fall to the valley floor below. (Geez, that would be some scary ride.)
In some places the mesa didn’t look wide enough to even provide a shoulder on the road, let alone guard rails. I was wondering if this road was even passable at night–pitch black, narrow winding road, no reflectors and no guard rails.
Then, I came upon this sign, which tickled my funny bone … a lot. Cattle crossing? Are you kidding me?! I wondered if the sign was meant to slow down traffic so they could stop before committing to Evil Knieval’s ramp, like maybe the highway dept. didn’t have any “Road Ends Ahead” signs so they put up this “head scratcher” instead. Anyway, it sure got my attention.
It doesn’t look too bad in the picture above, but both sides of the road were nothing but steep rock walls, not vertical but definitely more mountain goat country than cattle. See pictures below:
Besides the steep rocky sides, there was very little vegetation — mostly scrubby pine and sage brush. Cattle crossing? Nothing to eat, no water, and most of all, how would they get here? Was this a joke? Must have been a slow day for the state highway sign hangers, and they felt obligated to put up some sort of sign somewhere. I couldn’t help feeling there was a hidden camera somewhere.
Thought for the Day: One can never consent to creep when one feels the impulse to soar. Helen Keller
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