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First Rockies trip

N

NM Doug

Well Known Member
It's (frequently) hot in Albuquerque, and we decided to try a trip to the high country...

Leaving Albuquerque, this volcano plug is Cabezon. Yes, this is very green for this area!
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Here's the town of Mancos, just east of Cortez and Mesa Verde.
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Telluride is in there somewhere:
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Smoother sailing up the valley into Gunnison
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Arrived in time for the farmer's market. Sue and I enjoyed a peach soda float.
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After a quiet day of R&R, next morning it looks good for Leadville. The Gunnison airport in the morning was cool and quiet.
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Departing to the east out of Gunnison - beautiful emerald fields and valleys
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Marshall Pass is at the right edge of the photo. A little windy at the peaks, but still smooth on the upwind side...
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(continued in next post...)
 
Part 2

Now heading north up to Leadville. Getting bounced around a bit, but manageable -
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Given the pretty swift ground speed at this density altitude, I elected to fly an expansive pattern to 16.
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Sue had a moment on short final to snap this view to the west. The big mountain on the left is Mt. Elbert, and the group on the right is Mt. Massive.
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Speaks for itself
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Leadville Airport columbine
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After a brief stop (this time), back up into the air. Twin Lakes Reservoir off to the west.
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Through Poncha Pass and now a relatively straight shot back to Albuquerque -
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Passing over Alamosa, where the Rio Grande is quite whimsical -
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Hard to believe all this beauty in an overnight trip. What a privilege, to get to see all this in an RV!
 
Doug------nice writeup.

We were just in the same areas in May, but the weather forced us into driving----great to see the shots from the air.
 
Anyone flying into Leadville should look for the stealth choppers frequently parked by themselves towards the south end of the field. They look a little like the Osama Bin Laden chopper. Unmarked, stealth black. Strange looking birds.
 
Well Done, Mr Dunston, Well Done!

Now that was a trip report! Great pics!

Did you not get the memo that the -9A is too slow to get out and see the country! You are doing it right!!!
 
Great write-up Doug. Where you based? I'm still in ABQ for a while. Made a trip to Double Eagle II last week. Never saw an RV.
 
GLPalinkas said:
Great write-up Doug. Where you based? I'm still in ABQ for a while. Made a trip to Double Eagle II last week. Never saw an RV.
Click to expand...

Welcome, Gary --- I hope you're enjoying some NM chile while you're here. We're based at Double Eagle II. There are indeed local RVs active most weeks and frequent visitors, too, though activity sometimes comes in waves. Chile Flight does its formation flights out of KAEG, too.
 
Mike S said:
Doug------nice writeup.

We were just in the same areas in May, but the weather forced us into driving----great to see the shots from the air.
Click to expand...

Thanks Mike - we were the beneficiaries of your trip planning threads on the forums. We had the advantage of being relatively close by and on vacation, because we were able to wait for a break in the weather. We had planned to head up Wednesday, because drier air was forecast to come in, but then the forecasts changed and kept evolving. It wasn't until Saturday morning that we took off from Albuquerque.

There's so much to see up there, both in the air and on the ground. It's beautiful country, and we're looking forward to finding a weekend to head up in the fall, too.

Doug
 
Doug, Great write-up. I recently flew to Durango with a group of RVers. I forgot to take photos I was so focused on the beauty. I look forward to your next trip write up.
Bernie
 
My kind of post

Great trip report Doug. I love finding this kind of trip write up. It's one of the best motivators out there. :)
 
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