(Elevation) Signs, (Elevation) Signs, Everywhere There's (Elevation) Signs

As I rode to Albuquerque this summer I routinely passed signs telling me the elevation, generally at the top of a pass (although one state had random signs that appeared to be at a certain elevation, rather than a certain place). After I had ridden through the sixth or seventh pass that was above 7,000 ft I stopped counting passes that were above 6,000 feet. Then I rode through a couple that were marked above 8,000 feet (btw, if you suddenly realize that your Harley doesn't seem to have as much power as it did, first think elevation rather than mechanical problems).

As I rode to Lillooet, BC a couple months ago I rode over the Jackass Mountain Pass summit. It had a sign that told me I was barely 1000 feet above sea level (361m if you are really anal retentive).

So this got me thinking. Do we really care that a place is 1000 feet above sea level? Isn't the point of the 7,896 foot sign to tell you how ridiculously high up you are? Come one, that's a mile and a half! That sign lets me know that I: a) shouldn't try to run a marathon (or go for a long walk, for that matter) b)should expect to have trouble with my carburetted Harley, and c) should buy a really good star map if I camp out up here. What on earth does the 1000 ft sign tell me? "This place isn't really special at all because all we just did is ride up a miniscule little hill that wouldn't even be much use for sledding in winter"?