Last week I found myself on an airplane to Albuquerque… for reasons I’ll disclose eventually. From Boulder it’s less than an hour’s flight, so I spent more time in the car than in the air. In fact, I did my business so quickly in Albuquerque that I turned around and flew home, spending about the same time in the air as I did on the ground there. Weird.
But on the way there, the pilot announced that we could see Pikes Peak from the starboard side. I leaned over to the window, and it took me a moment to find it; first, the Rockies were displayed all around me, and second, we nearly above the mountain so the view was flattened considerably. Still, very cool view:
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Then, a few moments later, the perspective changed:
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The Rockies are spectacular, and oddly I can’t see them well from my house; the foothills (smaller but closer mountains) block them. I actually need to head East, away from the mountains, to see the bigger peaks; perspective drops the foothills faster than the farther but much larger mountains. By the time I’m about 8 km east the taller peaks are easy to see.
I am always astonished to see the mountains; I’ve lived my whole life close to one coast or another; even in the Appalachian mountains the hills are far older, more eroded, smoother, and lower. Standing at the base of the Boulder Flatirons, with geology spread around you as obvious as the smell of pine and the sight of a magpie, the deep, deep history of the Earth is hard to deny. The Earth is old. Our time here is short.
I have no deep insight into this. I just think it’s remarkable.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:08 pm
So Albuquerque wasn’t something Bugs Bunny made up when he took a wrong turn. Um…nice pics.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I grew up in Billings, Montana, and we could see a branch of the Rockies off in the distance on a clear day. It was a sight I grew to appreciate after moving to Boston. It’s still great to get back there and see the natural forces of the planet at work and be able to read in the patterns and striations of the rocks how the landscape was changed. It’s amazing that we can look at a rock face and tell by the colors, the angles and the amount of wear a lot about what happened there in the distant past. Especially in a relatively young area like parts of the Rockies where you can see the forces of drift and the carving power of glaciers all in the same spot.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Those pictures are begging to be turned into a red-blue stereoscopic photo. Any takers?
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:46 pm
When I lived in Edmonton, Alberta, and would drive west, I would get to a small town, Edson, Alberta, and that was about 2 hours from Edmonton, but 90 minutes from Jasper. That was the first place we could see the mountains. Awesome!
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I’m one of those folks who’s driven Pike’s Peak. In my case, in rented tiny 4-cylinder thingie with an automatic transmission. It was really wheezing when I got to the top. Next time I’ll take the little railway.
The scenery, of course, was spectacular. Most interesting sight, though, was the guy driving a Winnebago that broke down on his downward leg a few thousand feet below the summit, completely blocking his side of the road. Dunno how they got him out of there.
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
The shadows aren’t parallel. Those photos were hoaxed!
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Before she died, we would go visit my grandmother in Loveland almost every year since I was 6. We would make the drive up to Estes Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park, as often as we could. There is nothing to compare driving thru the Rockies, with hundreds of feet of sheer vertical rock on one side, and the river (and sometimes sheer vertical drops) on the other side of the 2 lane road.
You cannot fathom the enormity of the mountains until you actually see them up close.
We always wondered what the first explorers and early Americans thought when they first came upon these mountains. When they were riding along in their covered wagons across the completely flat plains for weeks, and suddenly there were these mountains, did they say, “What in tarnation are those?!?”
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Oh My Gosh!
I SEE A FACE!!!
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
I have the same love of mountains. Growing up in the Western Australian goldfields meant that the highest hill must have been only in the hundreds of feet, so I find mountains are a novelty and incredibly fascinating. They are the first thing I head for when I travel. Hopefully I’ll be over to explore some of the Rockies next year!
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I love the mountains. I am a child of the Midwest, born and raised in Illinois and living near Chicago, the flatness is overwhelming. Mountains have always inspired a sense of wonder in me because of this. I have seen Pike’s Peak, when I spent a week in Colorado Springs, literally in its shadow. Then I understood what the heck was meant by “purple mountain majesties” in one of our favorite overly-patriotic carols.
Out east, the Appalachians are quite stunning, and significantly older if I recall correctly. I have visited the Alleghenies in northeast PA at least five times and am still continually stunned by their beauty every single time I visit. Clear streams, five foot tall ferns, black bears roaming the hills; and of course – oil and natural gas exploitation as well as mountaintop removal coal mining – huzzah for “clean” coal!!
Despite our far reaching effects, there are still places among these mountains where humanity’s influence can be escaped and tranquility can be found.
Did I mention, I love mountains?
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
you’re lyin’ phil. The whole stuff was created about 6000 years ago. Don’t scare the kids, read your bible.
BTW – I spent a total of 9 months in our canadian rockies, on horseback. No roads then, enter on horseback or by plane.
There were mountain cutbanks where you could see perfect folds. Geology pure.
I have stood at a point where I faced the centrepoint of a huge fold, basically the centre of the mountain – the rock weas bend 180 degrees within a couple of inches – awesome.
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Aw, Phil… now I’m homesick again…
November 2nd, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I love, love, LOVE mountains! I’ve never been to the Rockies, but I have hiked the Appalachians– and the Blue Ridge really is blue! It’s breathtaking. There is nothing like the pure majesty of the amazing stuff that’s all around us!!!
November 2nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I lived in Switzerland for a few years, in Neuchatel. The Jungfrau Massif was about 90 km away. Most of the time it was invisible due to atmospheric extinction. And then every once in a while the air would clear and the trio of mountains would suddenly appear, towering even at that distance. Quite spectacular.
November 2nd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
If you timed the pictures just right, you could have had a stereographic pair.
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Wow. I’ve lived in Louisiana my whole life (~21 years), so I’ve never seen anything like this. I would love to go see the Rockies one day.
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
My Mom lives in Conifer, and we can see Pikes Peak from there when it’s clear. Several years ago, we borrowed her car and drove up Pikes Peak. But your photos give a much different perspective. Thank you.
You should drive up to the top of Mt. Evans. It’s the highest paved road in North America. I bet they’d let you tour to the telescope. It’s a fun drive, and the view is splendid. I’ve done that a couple of times. Oops, the road closed September 2nd for the season. Maybe next summer.
I grew up on the coasts and now live in Pennsylvania. But we visit my Mom in the summer and hike in the mountains. The only fourteeners I’ve done are those car-assisted ones.
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
“If you timed the pictures just right, you could have had a stereographic pair.”
My first thought — here’s my shot at it. It is somewhat difficult being color-blind, but I hope the effect comes through. You need the red-blue/green glasses of course.
http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/171490e57d58460b.jpg
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
It is strange that our national border happens to divide two completely different types of mountains in the Rockies. The Canadian Rockies are the result of an ancient ocean floor folding upon itself and pushing up higher and higher until it split and formed those magnificent layered faces we see on all the postcards. The U.S. Rockies were formed when the mantel was pushed through the crust forming all sorts of both pointy peaks and rounded heads. The rock is much harder and will erode much slower. When you drive from north to south or vise versa, it is incredible to take in the different yet incredible scenery on both sides of the border.
November 2nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm
@Quiet Desperation – the timing really isn’t critical. The longer you take, the more extreme the 3d effect.
Here’s the pair as a 3d image – left eye is red:
http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bad3dha2.jpg
(It’s a great trick, and I try to get a stereo pair whenever I fly past a mountain. Here’s some I took of a volcano in New Zealand: http://flickr.com/photos/moose2000/tags/3d )
November 2nd, 2008 at 7:19 pm
Trying going to Pike’s Peak itself, Phil!
Went there in summer of 1999. Quite the view! Too bad my family only went 1/2 way up. The high altitude got to my parents, so we left.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I just went through all my pictures of the peak, and none make a really good stereoptic pair.
But very cool what you did with those! The large pit to the right of center really stands out. next time I’ll get better pairs.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Mountains! yes!
I am a pilot for maybe the airline you were on, and I have flown that route many times. Every time I am flying over the rockies, I am always taken in by the view, no matter how many times. We have a much better view up front too! sorry.
I was flying with a capt who was a YEC, but a nice guy, but looking out at all the geological features gave me such a sense of wonder and reverance, and the feeling of ancientness of the earth is so strong.
He asked the question that ‘doesn’t it make you think god exists?’
I answered no. It gives me such a fulfilling sense of wonder and awe at the amazing splendor of nature. I don’t need to believe in Santa Claus to appreciate a gift either.
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Oh, wow o.o I was just looking them up – those mountains are 300 million years old. And as absolutely ancient as they are, that’s only, what, a fifteenth of the total age of the Earth? This planet is oooold. How anyone can look at it and claim that it’s only 6,000 is beyond me. Geology rocks!
*is shot*
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Wow, I can just about see my parents’ house! (Literally. they live 20 min NW of the Springs…) The views they have of the peak are absolutely incredible. Not that the views from the top aren’t anything to write home about (I recommend the train, BTW. Texans driving the highway tend to take their half out of the middle when you’re on the side of the road that has the 2000 foot cliff).
I also strongly recommend visiting Garden of the Gods if you’re ever in the Springs. It’s part of an ancient seabed tilted vertical by the uplift event that created Pike’s Peak. Spectacular, even if you aren’t a geology nerd.
@Justin: If you ever get the chance, go. I spent 9 years in New Orleans. Love the city, but the only topography is the levees and Monkey Hill at Audubon Zoo. The Rockies will knock your socks off.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Colorado’s my #1 place to live some day. Been one of my minor life dreams. First time I drove out there as part of a family trip to most of the big west natural destinations was amazing. Can’t wait to do it again and I really hope that I’ll be able to live there some day.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
Appalachians > Rockies
/just sayin’
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Props to the Photographer.
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Negatron:
Have you heard about this story: Pilot pinned down after ‘invoking’ God on flight?
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 pm
They are great pictures. Hope you don’t mind me adding the latter to my desktop for now ;p
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:45 am
There’s a reason it’s called Boulder _Valley_. Your first good view of the mountains as you drive out of Boulder is from the parking area on the Denver turnpike a couple of miles east of town. That’s the place from which I first saw comet Hale-Bopp, one memorable evening with my then-girlfriend-now-wife.
November 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 am
Pardon my ignorance, but what is the significance of Pikes Peak…?
Nice pics, BTW, Phil.
When I lived in Scotland, I used to have a lovely view of the Ochils from my upstairs windows. But they are way older and rounder than the Rockies (although, apparently, they are made of the same rock as the eastern side of North America – most of Scotland used to be connected to North America when the Atlantic was no more than a creek). Still, it was fun each autumn to watch the snow-line gradually ease its way down the hills.
November 3rd, 2008 at 4:46 am
And for the American-geographically challenged among us, can you point out which one Pikes Peak is?
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:25 am
I felt something like you’re describing, when I flew in to Baton Rouge. I could see all the paths the Mississippi River has taken over the eons. I thought how physical forces had worked on the system, first scooping up tiny particles of soil from much further upriver, then carrying them hundreds of miles. Eventually, gravity takes over, and causes those particles to fall out of the waterflow. When the river’s path becomes too clogged, it seeks another path. As a bend forms in the river, the water flows faster on the outside of the bend, and slows on the inside, causing the bend to become more dramatic as land is deposited on one side and lost on the other. Leave this to happen for millions of years, and the whole plain is covered with the signs of this meandering.
I’m moving to Denver soon. My sister, who is an engineer there, says she can see the Flatirons from one side of her office, and Pikes Peak from the other.
November 3rd, 2008 at 6:33 am
I grew up in the Mountain West, but now bounce back and forth on the coasts. There really is something incredible about those mountains. Oh, how I miss the rivers! There is nothing like a roaring mountain river. @nolachief: I’ve seen the Garden of the Gods. Amazing. Anyway, cheers, Phil! Enjoy that great mountain air!
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Pikes Peak is the ‘purple mountain majesties’ of the song that should be our national anthem – America, the Beautiful. I’ve been up there, and I can’t tell for sure which part of Phil’s picture is the peak. There’s a building on top and a parking lot. I don’t see that. Is what we see as ‘road’ in the foreground the cog railway tracks? I think that would make the deeper brown patch below the larger shadow at the center of Phil’s first photo the peak.
I have a photo I took last summer from about 50 miles north of the peak. Pikes Peak is the very faint mountain in center middle – http://home.comcast.net/~bethkatz/Reynolds.jpg
The Appalachians are older mountains with a different sort of feel and look to them. Still wonderful.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:09 am
Negatron: I always get a window seat when I’m flying over the Rockies and especially over the Four Corners area. It’s always incredible!
We’re hoping to move back to Colorado after 11 years in NE… once a mountain person, always a mountain person!
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:33 am
Oh, and I did several semesters of geology class work at CU, and of course the mountains are the perfect place for field trips… amazingly so!
Phil, if you haven’t done the following, you should: take the Littlest Astronomer and Mrs BA on a drive over to I-70 and get off at Rainbow Cut — which is in Golden, just about where 470 crosses I-70. It’s an amazing cut through millions ofyears of geologic history, and there’s a cool drive around one of the hills where you can stop and look at things like dinosaur tracks and prehistoric turtles in the cliff faces. We did a number of field trips over there… it’s about 35 minutes drive from where you live.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:51 am
I’m one of those folks who’s driven Pike’s Peak. In my case, in rented tiny 4-cylinder thingie with an automatic transmission. It was really wheezing when I got to the top. Next time I’ll take the little railway.
Next time I plan on taking a tiny 4-cylinder thingie up it. A tiny 4-cylinder thingie with a monster turbo, close-ratio 6-speed and AWD. And Michelle Mouton will greet me at the top with a shower of hugs and kisses!!!
And then I’ll wake up in a puddle.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:56 am
Oh to have such magnificent peaks. It is pretty flat in Australia. Flying over the Andes was a travel highlight. Walking around at 5000 metres not so much.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:12 am
As you can clearly see by the straight lines in the picture, these mountains are clearly artificial. And the fact that they are brigther on one side than the other clearly shows that they are of a material not yet discovered by human science. I think I even see some windows…
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:06 am
Ah Phil, thanks for the great pictures. There will be a part of me that will always miss being a flight attendant. I clearly had the second best office view ever (the first being up front in the flight deck). I know that going back to school for engineering was the right thing to do, but I will always miss the view and having the sunrise chase you across the country.
Thanks again!
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:18 pm
The advantage of folded topography over flatlands, as in the advantage of badlands over deserts, is that when the land is folded over itself you simply have more places.
To exploit and thereby earn a living.
Oh, I’m rather partial to the parts of the Rockies that stretch through Wyoming. Probably because they are the ones I know. One can be enamored of folded terrain. I know this one place . . .
November 4th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Sarcastro said:
Ah, I see you have dreamed of driving the S4 Quattro!
November 4th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Hey Phil, have you ever seen the elephant on the Pike’s Peak? No? Well, take the cog train to the top. Be sure to ask about the elephant. It’s standing along trackside about one-third the way to the top. And, while at the top if you get short of breath you can buy a sniff or two of oxygen.
November 8th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
[...] science. Any chance for an science advisor position for Mr. Plait? Here, speculate on this: 1) BA Blog: Pikes Peak (November 2nd, 2008 1:00 PM by Phil Plait) [...]