Aerial Pictures of the Pacific Northwest

Narrative

The last time I flew from Denver, Colorado to Seattle Washington I was fortunate enough to have nearly cloud free weather during the entire flight to the Pacific Northwest.  During the return flight I mostly had great weather as well.  Below is a series of pictures I took from my window seat during both of these flights.  This first picture is from the tarmac as the plane is preparing to leave Denver International Airport:

Here is a view of the vast farm fields and growing suburbs to the north of Denver:

The flight I was on traveled north into southern Wyoming before flying west over the Rocky Mountains:

The Rocky Mountains in southern Wyoming are very dry compared to most other section of this great mountain range:

As the plane began to fly over the Rocky Mountains in Idaho there was much more vegetation and water that could be seen:

The Rocky Mountains in Idaho looked rugged and beautiful from the air:

Eventually the Rocky Mountains gave way to the high plains again as we began to fly over eastern Washington:

Next I saw the mighty Columbia River flowing through eastern Washington that provides the water for the region’s farms:

We next flew over the Cascade Range.  Out my window I could first see the 12,281 foot Mt. Adams and the 11,249 foot Mt. Hood further out in the distance:

Here is a closer look at these two potentially active volcanoes:

As we continued to fly over the Cascades eventually the currently active volcano 8,363 foot Mt. St. Helens came into view:

Here is a closer look at Mt. St. Helens:

Next the king of the Cascade Range came into view, the 14,411 foot Mt. Rainier:

Like the other nearby volcanoes Mt. Rainier is also considered potentially active as well as very dangerous due to its proximity to the major population center of Seattle and Tacoma:

Here is closer look at the glacier covered slopes of this gigantic volcano:

It is only a matter of time before this volcano blows again at some point and hopefully we have the technology to accurately predict when it will happen with enough warning to evacuate people:

Seeing Mt. Rainier from the air has only further motivated me to want to climb this peak one day:

Soon after seeing the awesome views of Mt. Rainier the plane began its descent over the Puget Sound to the SEATAC International Airport:

This next picture is from when my plane was taking off from SEATAC on my flight back to Denver:

It was cloudy on the flight back to Denver thus I was not able to take any pictures until the plane began to fly over the Rocky Mountains that run through Idaho:

From the air the Rocky Mountains in Idaho look quite beautiful and I made mental note that I definitely need to go explore this part of the United States in the future.  After passing through some clouds again I was able to get some pictures on the final approach to DIA.  This below picture shows the high peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park:

I was even able to get a picture of the beautiful Estes Park with the mighty 14,259 foot Longs Peak rising above it:

Here is a closer look:

This final picture once again shows the vast farm fields to the north of Denver before we eventually landed at DIA:

Conclusion

I always enjoy being able to get some good aerial pictures when flying.  I was lucky that the weather was nice for most of the time I was in the air.  Flying over the western US always motivates me to go out and see more of it.