I recently flew to Texas for my best friends wedding. While flying I had lots of fun snapping shots of the terrain with my phone whenever the clouds broke. Most of the time, I can tell exactly where I am, but on this occasion, I was completely baffled, even though I knew the general vicinity I was in. The mystery is the two tall, dark towers rising from the red earth below the wing. At first I thought it might be Shiprock, but I saw none of the dikes radiating out from the peak. In addition, shortly after I saw these, the pilot pointed Shiprock out, but it was visible out the left side of the plane and I was on the right. Since we were flying southeast to Albuquerque, these formations had to be somewhere west of Shiprock. For added help, I saw these towers a little while we had flown over Lake Powell. Consequently, the towers must be somewhere east of Lake Powell but west of Shiprock.



Thanks for the input!

The big one is definitely Agathla Peak (aka El Capitan; I thought it was on SP, but I'm not finding it now). That was my first guess, and I got a 100% convincing view matching your photo in Google Earth. Looking at the topo maps, it looks like its partner is something called Chaistla Butte, just a little northeast of the town of Kayenta.

Fun puzzle for a lazy Sunday morning!

jfrishmanIII wrote:The big one is definitely Agathla Peak (aka El Capitan; I thought it was on SP, but I'm not finding it now). That was my first guess, and I got a 100% convincing view matching your photo in Google Earth. Looking at the topo maps, it looks like its partner is something called Chaistla Butte, just a little northeast of the town of Kayenta.

Fun puzzle for a lazy Sunday morning!

Awesome. Thank you! Just for fun, perhaps you would like a go at this one:

Throw us a bone! Still headed east? East or West of your first photo?

Anyway, this thread and photos reminded me of a song that's getting some air time now on the country music stations. One could debate whether it's actually a country song, but it's got some good pedal steel going on. And it's better than the pop music that mostly consumes the country stations.

http://www.cmt.com/videos/jason-aldean/ ... st=1919990

jdzaharia wrote:Throw us a bone!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV9yUvNp6z0[/youtube]

The area is in between the first picture I posted and Albuquerque.

Modern country...what a sad affair. Nowadays, I am ashamed to say I am a country fan. People generally assume that I mean the crap that they play on the radio, when I actually mean guys like Jason Boland, Eleven Hundred Springs and Whitey Morgan.

I lived in Texas for four years. I hated it (it didn't help that I lived in downtown Dallas) but I got through in large measure because of the Wichita Mountains. However, I did develop a bit of a love hate relationship with the state. Looking back now, the things I miss the most are the awesome aforementioned music and the killer barbecue:

Perhaps the Chuska Mountains.

surgent wrote:Perhaps the Chuska Mountains.

Further to the east. This one is pretty obscure. I have a bunch of other really cool aerials from my flight but I figured they were all way too easy, so this was the only hard one I could put up.

Bubba Suess wrote:

In the bottom of the photo has got to be Cerro Salado, and the pronounced canyon on the left side of the photo must be Canon Tapia. Indeed, very obscure for this midwesterner. The land formations are fascinating.

Ha, that was a tough one! I was looking for possibilities in the Puerco Valley, but couldn't find it until I realized I needed a much more southwesterly view. It'd sure be neat to get back in there and explore that crescent amphitheater, good project to put on the list for the cool seasons. And Cerro Salado looks pretty fun too!

Edit: Nice work jdzharia, looks like we figured it out simultaneously!

jdzaharia wrote:In the bottom of the photo has got to be Cerro Salado, and the pronounced canyon on the left side of the photo must be Canon Tapia. Indeed, very obscure for this midwesterner. The land formations are fascinating.

Correct!

If y'all are having fun with this, here is another one:

Lionel wrote:Oh, Come on, that is easy as hell.

Yeah, and don't forget that Marshalls' clothing store east of the Mall where my wife likes to shop ... fer cryin' out LOUD ...

Lionel wrote:Oh, Come on, that is easy as hell.

I know its easy, but I am working with what I have. I think this one is easy too, but who knows:

We must not be limited to the four corners area anymore??