But crossing the street does not require a heightened sense of consciousness. In fact, you are probably not even conscious of nearly everything that's going on as you cross the street, you are just doing it.

Now if you were sitting on your couch in dead silence in a pitch black room, what would be going on in your head with no language?

I can't track how much of my thought is visual versus verbal -- because, of course, if I did so I'd switch to verbal mode -- but there are plenty of thoughts one can consciously have that don't require words. The category that most readily comes to mind is sexual fantasies. They don't require consciousness, I guess, but I suspect that many beings we think of as conscious have such thoughts, consciously.

No. I often think without language. It's a different mode.

thinking and consciousness are different things. Thinking implies that you are evaluating your surroundings as all other animals do. Consciousness is the idea of self awareness: not only are you thinking about the situation, but you're thinking about yourself in the situation in relation to everything else around you.