Flying to Phoenix and back... the long way

I recently flew to Phoenix to watch a football game and catch up with a former colleague, but took indirect flights, on purpose, wanting to see if I could get some good photos from the plane with my Nokia 1020 phone-camera.

Basically, I went from SLC to Denver, to Phoenix, to San Franciso, and back to SLC

The first leg was from Salt Lake to Denver, with a departure out over the Great Salt Lake.

Above the Great Salt Lake on a NW departure, looking southwest, with Stansbury Island on the right, the southwest corner of the GSL in the foreground, the Stansbury Mountains and 12,000 Deseret Peak to the left, the Cedar Mountains further back, and the Deepcreek Mountains in the distance, over 100 miles away

As we got closer to Denver, some nice shots appeared out my window, so I had no choice but to click the button!




Looking North on a range in Colorado, with the high plains of Wyoming in the distance

Out of Denver to Phoenix, I found a nice shot of Great Sand Dunes National Park, with the Sangre de Cristo Mountains adjacent.


Great Sand Dunes + Sangre de Cristo Mountains

Approaching Phoenix, Camelback Mountain, surrounded by city:

On approach to PHX, Camelback Mountain from the air

 

 

Of course, I had to hike Camelback, which is an excellent workout, no chance for hypothermia!

Echo Canyon, on the way up Camelback



Iconic Saguaro Cactus 

The football game was great, and then my journey was from Phoenix to San Francisco:


Downtown Phoenix on departure

Enroute to San Francisco, Yosemite National Park appeared:



Yosemite from above, after an early autumn snow

From San Francisco, headed east, Lake Tahoe, from the SE at 36,000 feet:

A nameless range in the Great Basin:

 

"Homeward Bound":

 

Silver Island Mountains, Great Salt Lake Desert

As most folks from Salt Lake drive west on I-80 to Wendover, the Bonneville Salt Flats come up on the right side (north) and there's a very dry range that runs SW-to-NE adjacent to the salt flats that most people don't really pay attention to.

With some early April weather lowering the snow level along the Wasatch Front, I decided to take on the Silver Island Mountains on a Saturday.

It was awesome.  They're not that high, about 7500 feet, but there was not nearly the same amount of snow.  I drove Taco (my trusty Toyota Tacoma) up a short canyon to a good launch point and started up, over a lot of lava rock, and lots of limestone, and once on the main spine, it was nothing but great vistas, in all directions, and they got better the higher I got.  The only thing about this range to be wary of is there is no trail, and there's a lot of uneven surfaces and small talus fields, so the wheels get a good workout.

Looking SE with part of the canyon shaded by thunderstorms.  The cliff was bigger than I was anticipating, maybe 300 feet.

Now looking north, with the late evening sun and scattered T-Storms providing lots of good lighting.















A clear shot looking north at the rest of the Silver Island range, with GSL playa providing the "ocean" that makes us refer to the Great Basin ranges as "islands in the desert".

Looking north, with the snow-capped Raft River Mountains in the distance

Looking NW at Pilot Peak, with the playa between the Silver Island range and Pilot range very distinct.

Looking NW over the north ridges and into the valley between Silver Island and Pilot ranges

Looking east to the south end of the Newfoundland Mountains, with winter's water in the drainage basin west of the Newfoundlands.

Looking NE at Desert Peak of the Newfoundland Mountains.