Beginner: Center asked me to state intentions, I thought they were mad.

[Bailey Kovach]

This morning I departed out of Colorado Air and Space port toward Sedona. In my flight plan I specified that my cruising altitude would be VFR 11,000. Upon departing I was told to stay at or below 11,000 by ATC.

As I left class B  (into class G I think) I proceeded to climb to 14,000 to get above the mountains. ATC directs me to contact Center and resume my own navigation. Upon contacting he said basically "N1BJ I see you at 14,000, your planned cruising altitude is 11,000, state intentions."

There was a long uncomfortable pause, everyone on this frequency from denver to just outside LA could hear this. I thought I had really messed up. Was I supposed to get clearance? I thought I was in class G?

So I said what seemed like a long 7 seconds later "We'd like to request 14,000 N1BJ"

"Roger, 14,000 approved Denver Center"

And that was it. Was he just making sure we are on the same page or did I break ATC rules somehow?

[Robert Shearman Jr]

What follows here is pure speculation based on the data available -- keep in mind, I did not hear any of the interactions that occurred on the channel.

Looking at your filed plan, it seems it was changed from VFR to IFR.  For one, you filed VFR but included a list of waypoints.  This isn't technically incorrect, but, it does occasionally lead VATSIM controllers (particularly the less experienced ones) to think you intended to file IFR.  It didn't help that the altitude you filed was consistent with IFR -- a VFR cruise altitude would typically be 500ft above the even thousand for a westbound flight (i.e. 14,500 or 16,500).  Usually when I fly VFR I just put "VFR southwestbound" in the route, even if I do intend to use radio nav-aids -- because if I run into clouds or see a pretty lake or something, as a VFR flight I don't need to stick to the filed route.

Long and short is that somewhere along the way it looks like someone became under the impression you were filed IFR, meaning that you were then bound to stick to the route and altitude ATC cleared you on.

Don't fret -- try again.  The more you do, the more you learn, the more things become clear, and the more readily you can identify when a miscommunication between yourself and the controller has occurred.

[Robert Shearman Jr]