April 6, 20242 yr During my trips to Denver, I had travelled twice to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City, because 1 mile = 5,280 ft, and believe it or not, the official elevation of Denver is (exactly) 5,280 ft, so, it cannot be any closer to a mile of elevation. The so-called Great Plains of U.S., the expanse of flatlands to the east of the Rockies, ends at the foothills of the Rockies, which begin just 15 miles west of Denver. So, one can clearly see the Rockies from this City. I recall, before heading out to the park...first having lunch at a restaurant, near the hotel we were staying, while looking out the window of the restaurant at the Rockies not far off. What made it special is that this Restaurant chain fortuitously happened to be the one with a location in Chicagoland area, so, I was familiar with it (my usual order was fire-grilled artichokes for appetizer, followed by seared tuna filets on top of the Asian Ahi Tuna Salad with wasabi and ginger, and topped off with a "single" order of crème brûlée (shared...!)....🙂...). So, it was the same there, except for the extra touch of the Rocky Mountains framed across the dining booth window, which made all the difference...🙂...to the meal...before I started out for the Rocky Mountain National Park. There are several ways to get there, about 60 miles away. One can take the Highway north, staying on the plains, as far as possible, before entering the foothills and mountains to the west, or one can first get closer to the foothills, and then take the CO state Route, skirting the eastern edge of Rockies all the way north, through the (uniquely beautiful) city of Boulder and its University of Colorado campus (had visited a friend there en-route, I recall...). For my flight here, I have followed the 2nd alternative (see the on-ground 1st shot of the MFD MAP Route displayed on what I believe is (stock) Garmin(?) avionics...🙂...). You can also see that from Denver International Airport (KDEN), I track directly west (actually towards the town of Golden, CO) nestled up against the mountains, and then turn 90 degrees north, flying along the edge of the foothills of the Rockies. However, feeling sufficiently empowered by the Pratt & Whitney Turboprops of the King Air...🙂..., with ample thrust at my fingertips, though I started out at 7,300 ft (just 2,000 ft radio altitude), I soon ventured into the mountains westward, nearabout where I would normally take the interior (country) road into the foothills onward to the Rocky Mountain National Park entrance...obviously, here, having to quickly climb to 15,000 ft for safe margin...(this hostile land is clearly no place for the stock Cub or Cessna...🙂...see my shot #s 8-13)... Then, I've descended (rapidly) from 15,000 ft back into the comfort of the plains and have finally captured the ILS Rwy 33 Approach into Northern Colorado Regional Airport (KFNL), formerly called Fort Collins Airport (see my ending images). Hope you enjoy this collection of images from my (virtual) trip of a gingerly tryst with the majestic (but fearsome) Rockies... (I now miss that RW trip, and especially that nice lunch...🙂...while instead making now some Einkorn Fusilli for dinner...Oh well...) ...! Thanks for viewing...!
April 6, 20242 yr Fine set with some nice landscape around P_7878 ! cheers 😉 08.2024 new PC is online : ASUS ROG STRIX X670E-F GAMING WIFI Mainboard, AMD Ryzen™ 9 7950X3D Prozessor, G.Skill DIMM 64 GB DDR5-6000 (2x 32 GB) Dual-Kit, MSI GeForce RTX 4090 VENTUS 3X E 24G OC Grafikkarte, 2x WD Black SN850X NVMe SSD 4 TB - Drive C+D, WD Gold Enterprise Class 12 TB for storage HDD, Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W PC - Power supply, Thermalright Phantom Spirit 120 EVO CPU Aircooler with 7 Heatpipes, Design Meshify 2 White TG Clear Tint Tower-Case, 3x 4K monitors 2x32 Samsung 1x27 LG 3840x2160, Windows11 Prof. 23H2 - now Windows11 Prof. 25H2 Flightsimulator Hardware: Honeycomb Throttle Bravo, Logitech Extreme 3D Pro, Logitech Flight Joke System, XBox Controller, some Thrustmaster stuff, Winwing CDU Panels.
April 6, 20242 yr Nice flight. I recall you visiting this area once before but perhaps that was with FSX.
April 7, 20242 yr Author Folks: Many thanks for the reactions...🙂...! On 4/6/2024 at 2:08 AM, pmplayer said: Fine set with some nice landscape around P_7878 ! cheers 😉 Thank you, pmplayer. Yes, nice landscape leading westward up to the heights of the Rockies ...🙂...I've driven around this region a few times... On 4/6/2024 at 8:11 AM, rmeier said: Nice set of photos...and a beautiful part of the country! Appreciated the note, rmeier...Glad you liked this part of the country...further south to yours ...🙂... 22 hours ago, John F said: Nice flight. I recall you visiting this area once before but perhaps that was with FSX. John, yes, that was about the heart of the Rockies I believe... including that scenic roadway leading up to great heights...on which roadway, I recall you were (once) a pax in an automobile (wiser thing to do)...🙂..., whereas I had driven the car myself all the way up once...consequently looking around was a bit challenging...to say the least... 12 hours ago, Alaska738 said: Beautiful set! 😉 Thanks, Will...Cheers...!
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