On April 24, 2023, on Day 33 of our 39-day drive across the USA, we headed north through Utah into Colorado. We passed snow-covered Mt. Linnaeus and Abajo Peak in Utah just after a delicious breakfast at Yaks Cafe in Blanding. Later, we stopped at Back of Beyond Bookstore in Moab, only our second visit in this lifetime. Then we passed by Arches and Canyonlands National Parks, drove east into Colorado, past Grand Junction, then north on Route 13 to Craig.
It was on Route 13 that we saw the deer massacre. We were shocked to count 50 deer carcasses along 25 miles of road as we drove into Craig. Off the charts road kill. What happened? Why the carnage?
A rare winter is the answer we got. This past winter was excetionally hard, with lots and lots of snow, too much snow, snow so deep that the deer could only move if they got to the highway, so they chose the highway. Deadly as it was, the highway was their best choice. What we could not count was the number of deer the highway saved.