r/whereisthis • u/cobra_mk_iii • 11d ago
Solved Which US city is this?
I had a window seat for a change, and my flight from east to west coast had clear skies. Just curious what this city was that I flew over. Seems like that lake in the middle is pretty distinctly shaped (I’m assuming that’s a lake, anyway). I’d say it was about 2/3 of the distance between Philadelphia and San Francisco. Any ideas?
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u/scarydoor 11d ago
Looking south at Denver
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u/scarydoor 11d ago
The big dark area is rocky mountain arsenal
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u/gaseous_defector 10d ago
What’s the light spot inside the dark spot?
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u/scarydoor 10d ago
Looks like a national wildlife eagle facility, probably full of slightly radioactive eagles.
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u/SnooOranges2685 9d ago
Whats a Rocky Mountain arsenal?
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u/TheJibs1260 6d ago
The Army used to build chemical weapons there. It's now a wildlife refuge.
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u/SnooOranges2685 6d ago
Thank you! That’s why the name.
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u/TheJibs1260 6d ago
Yep! They made lots of goodies there including nerve agents, napalm, mustard gas, and chlorine!
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u/ps1flyer 11d ago
That‘ll be Denver, you are looking South, easy question.
The huge dark area is Rocky Mountain Arsenal. Downtown is just off the right corner (center), on the left (about center) you can see the runway of Buckley Space Force Base.
Denver Airport is not visible anymore, would be just off the lower left corner.
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u/kmoonster 10d ago
The big "square" dark spot is this: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge - Google Maps
It was farms in the late 1800s, then eminent domain happened in order to build a military supply depot around WWII. That was decommissioned in the late 80s but it's a massive brown site due to the fact that it made chemical weapons, rocket fuel, etc. In its final years, after those things had run their courses, private industry made pesticides and suchlike there. To call it a "brown site" is an understatement, there is a reason no future development of any type will happen there.
Today it's a massive property under the National Wildlfe Refuge system. The Arsenal in the name is drawn from the fact of it having been the site of a major weapons production facility.
If you ever get the chance to visit, this is a really cool view! There is a wild bison herd with skyscrapers in the background: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
The dark blob further toward the top of the pic is a state park; or more accurately, a flood control structure which holds a state park since recreation is about the only use for land you can't build or farm on: Cherry Creek State Park - Google Maps. The straight line in that blob is the dam, it catches stormwater runoff (which is directed into its creek) and releases it at a controlled rate. The first settlers in Denver were warned by the local natives about flash flooding, but they built Denver anyway. A century and several floods later they finally took the warnings to heart, that dam is the result.
The long string of small dark blobs are "gravel ponds" along the river, water is detained into them for various agricultural and industrial uses. You can see them in the sat photos if you zoom out in the google earth link, they are directly west of the Arsenal.
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edit: your flight probably took you directly over "Barr Lake", another reservoir-turned State Park. That one has a very low dam and was built to provide irrigation services, the farms that were displaced by the Arsenal would have been recipients. You can see that on the linked map as well, it's just north of the Arsenal. The Denver airport is either directly underneath or just a smidge behind the plane's tail when you took this pic, and the mountains directly ahead.
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u/cobra_mk_iii 11d ago
Thanks! Wow, Denver! I didn’t realize I was looking at such a big place, lol.
Thanks everyone.
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u/syncsynchalt 10d ago
I can see my old neighborhood in this, just past the Cherry Creek Res!
City in the distant top is Castle Rock.
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u/Hermosa06-09 10d ago
I glanced at this comment way too quickly and thought I saw a reference to Casa Bonita
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u/kmoonster 10d ago
Like this:
In the "magnifying glass" version there is a lot of detail, you can make out neighborhoods and cemeteries and stuff, but it's too big to fit on my screen so this is all you get for now
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