All photos look north in an eastbound airplane.


Starting on the west side of the Rocky Mountains near Telluride, I fly east to the highlands south of the Blue Mesa Reservoir along the Gunnison River (last photo, north of the previous one).


Be not surprised that the National Forest to my north a few minutes later (figure 25-30 miles) is also named Gunnison. Until then, enjoy snowcapped peaks from west to east.


I emerge from the main body of the Rockies into the valley of the Arkansas River north of Salida. The peaks seen in these photos include Mounts Antero and Princeton, for additional location reference.


The first two photos are top and bottom of the same snap, and the last looks northeast at West and East Buffalo Peaks in the foreground.


Pikes Peak, which isn't the tallest in Colorado, certainly not the prettiest, but is definitely the most visited, thanks to the toll road conveniently leading to the summit. It claims to be the most-visited mountain in all of North America, which may depend on how one defines a mountain. To its southwest is an open-pit mining operation, which smacks of sacrilege.


Pikes Peak is part of the Front Range, the last hurrah of the Rockies before opening out into the Great Plains, so here is the rest of the Front Range before the country becomes unphotogenic.

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