An interesting encounter last night

When you drive to the observatory at night (which YOU can't, as the grounds are closed at night since the observatory doesn't have any visitor facilities, the nearby National Solar Observatory at Sunspot has both a visitor's center and a little section about Apache Point) there is a place on the road where you have to shut off your headlights and make the final approach with just your running lights on. Right now, as you know, there is pretty much no moon, so it's pretty darn dark.

So Monday night I'm driving up, not far from the point where you turn your headlights off, crawling up the road at a VERY low speed when there is a white blur in front of me. A deer or elk ran across the road right in front of me.

A bit of a sphincter-tightening time!

It wouldn't have been a significant impact as slow as I was driving, but a lot of people have had their vehicles damaged by elk HITTING THEM. Apparently they are high on the list of stupidest animals and you have to be very careful when you encounter a gaggle of them on the road late at night.