Ship? Rock?…Shiprock?

Yes, Shiprock. What is it and where is it? Seriously, I've been flying for 28 years now and it was only recently that I finally put two and two together and found, researched, and photographed the illusive Shiprock. Not like it's as illusive as the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot, but to actually fly near it on a clear enough day with a good sun angle does take a little luck, if you know what I mean. And having grown up in Hawaii, I never really had the opportunity to see a lot of the US Mainland, so a majority of what I do see from above is new to me and it's beautiful.

Once I started flying commercially, I often heard of Shiprock. I'd hear, "Oh, there's Shiprock" and I'd respond with, "Oh, okay," when I really had no idea what I was looking at but just went along with it to make the Captain feel good. That's what First Officers do, you know. :) Come on now, leaving the beautiful islands of Hawaii for college and traveling the world for over 20 years, Daylight Savings Time (DST) was new to me; it still messes with me, even today.

So, here it is, Shiprock, New Mexico! WooHoo! It is kind of cool looking and really out there in the middle of nowhere.

I always thought, and was actually told a few times (probably by one of those Captains), that it was the mountain in the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yeah, not so much. That would be Devils Tower in Wyoming. Now, back to Shiprock.

Shiprock is Navajo for "Winged Rock" or Rock with Wings" and is located in the far Northwest corner of New Mexico, right near the Four Corners area. It rises about 1,583 feet to a peak elevation of 7,177 feet. It's a famous place for New Mexico tourism and is a favorite of photographers. While you can view many photos on the internet of Shiprock, you don't see many like the one I took above. Someday, though, I'll have to get out there and see it up close, but I have a lot more on the bucket list to go through first.

Well, that's Shiprock. I hope you like the photo and if you want to learn more, check it out on the internet at: Shiprock. And yes, I do point it out to my passengers when we're lucky enough to pass near it. I'm sure they see it, unlike those four intersecting lines on the Earth's surface that make the Four Corners area that I tell them about and have them rigorously searching for as we fly by the area. Oh, they're there, you just have to look really hard and concentrate. Hey, at least I'm not pointing out Bigfoot or UFOs, right?

Mahalo for flying with Captain Bobby Mitchel



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