Yesterday I was flying from San Diego to Denver en route to my home. About two minutes before landing I noticed a formation of angulated and sheer-faced red rocks that shot out of the ground like knives. They were surrounded by a golfcourse and adjacent residential community and were very striking to look at as they must have risen almost 200’ out of the gound. My guess is they are a haven for rock climbers since they have such an extreme inverted angle on the backside.
I searched on Google and Mapquest and trying to make a visual pinpoint but came up empty handed. Does anyone have any ideas?
Either Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs, or Red Rocks park in Denver. I can’t think of adjacent golf courses to either, but Garden of the Gods has abundant open green space around it…Red Rocks (there’s an amphitheatre there & it’s in the foothills west of Denver) is a bit more rugged.
My first guess would be Garden of The Gods…if you’re flying from the South I doubt you’d go as far north as Boulder County where the Flatirons are. Besides, they’re not really shooting out of the ground & they’re not that red either, & not that much open space around them.
Garden of the Gods has the rather charmingly named “Kissing Camels” rock formation…
Thanks Carina42 and threemae, I think you nailed it exactly, the Garden of the Gods.
Carina42, “not that red”?!?!? When you come from the Pacific Northwest, these look pretty darn red. Then again, I’ve never been to Red Rocks, Zion, Bryce, or the Grand Canyon, so I guess I have never really seen red rocks.
As a life resident of Colorado, I can tell you that it’s not Garden of the Gods, there isn’t a golf course close by. Red Rocks is butted up against the mountains pretty tightly and to the best of my knowledge that area is owned by the city of Denver and does not have a golf course either, mostly open space but over the ridge is Bandemere Speedway (more rocks, kinda sorta, jutting out of the ground.)
My best assumption is that it is the Flat Irons located in the Boulder region. I am pretty sure that the Flat Irons has a golf course near by. In fact I remember a Colorado Lottery advert that featured the Flat Irons with a golf course in it.
I could be wrong but chances are you saw the Flat Irons that are north west of Denver about 30 miles. Which is also a typical fly pattern coming into DIA.
uhh…its kinda cool to see other Coloradans on here…anyway, I live in Boulder and the closest golf course to the Flatirons is across town so I’m stumped too, but I have to say Garden of the Gods, Flatirons, or Red Rocks also unless there’s some formations like that up north more like by Ft. Collin’s which there very well could be…peace
I could have sworn that the Flat Irons had a lot of grass land – unlike Garden of the Gods which is surrounded, completely, by housing on the east, south and west by housing and the north by a mountain. That mountain, which the name eludes me, which has a huge scar on it from mining the rock up there.
It could have been Red Rocks but the ampitheater (sp) is pretty noticable from aircraft…but usually the bigger planes come in from the north because of the air space between C Springs and Denver (with Centennial Airport in Arapahoe County) and such.
I would still guess the Flat Irons…it would help if wishbone would state what side of the plane he was on considering the fact that when flying east north is on the left, etc.
There are some formations not unlike those described above at the Air Force Academy and there are a couple of golf courses there also.
On a somewhat smaller scale, over near Monument both jutting rocks and a golf course are present.
Finally, just east of Castle Rock is a vague possibility. I was on a photo shoot near there and was surprised at the rocky possibilities for backgrounds and I did notice some golf courses.
I have one other thought, but its even north of the Flatirons.
Are you talking literally two minutes? If so I believe planes don’t fly faster than 300 mph on approach. Which gives a max range of ten miles or so, fifteen on the outside allowing for estimation. None of those suggestions are in range except maybe Red rocks, but red rocks is basically the side of a mountain and doesn’t fit the description much.
a kind of crappy picture of red rocks.
I was sitting on the right side of the plane which I assume was facing the southeast for the most part of the flight from Sandy Eggo(FYI, toasters at the beach are NOT a good idea ).
I am not sure if we circled around to land from the north or not, which would be dependant upon the general direction of the wind last Sunday, the 23rd. Usually planes land facing into the wind, so if it was blowing from the north we would have landed from the south. I do not recall us having to circle around, and usuallly on a clear day it is pretty apparent, so I firmly believe we approached from the south(still, I could be wrong.) Had it not been overcast this would not be an issue(I could have deduced by shadows). Does the wind generally blow from the north this time of year?
When I saw the rocks(definately rocks, not mountains) I had looked out the window and noticed we were mainly over farmland. There seemed to be a small hill on which were settled the two or three reddish(in color) rock formations that were in a line like ducks. They seemed to run roughly east/west.
They knifed out of the ground that appeared to be at an angle, the tips seeming to point to the south. They had somewhat smooth faces(like El Capitan but not as vertical), and had definately been landscaped around by the appearance of the surrounding foliage. They looked interesting and unusual enough that I would not be surprised if they had been given monument status, but I am not familiar with the regualrity of these type of formations in Denver, as they could be quite commonplace and not paid any special attention.
The two rocks that looked to be most westwardly were surrounded on all sides by a green grassy area that resembled golf courses, but I don’t necessarily remember 18 individual fairways so, hmmm. The rocks that looked most eastwardly was surrounded on all sides by thick trees.
I notices three or four cul-de-sacs within walking-distance that appeared to be the north.
I was flying in a 727 and we were approximately two minutes from touchdown. I do not know exactly what the average speed of a 727 is upon final approach but I mentioned the plane because the speed might differ greatly if I were flying in a smaller plane.
The angles of the rocks are perfect, see in the picture how they all slant at about 45°-60°. The rocks up close don’t look too familiar but the ones way off in the distance at the end of the chain look like dead ringers.
If this picture is loking out to the east then I think they are the exact rocks I saw. I will try to punch in the address of the state park on Mapquest™ and see if I can get an aerial photo that matches up.
Carina’s got it. I was going to say “someplace in far, far southeast Aurora, maybe near the Saddle Rock area” – there’s plenty of similar rock formations, along with the prerequisite new golf courses and high-end subdivisions nearby. Roxborough isn’t that far away, and it’s close to all the new golf courses and high-end subdivisions in Parker.
