2018-12-22 Mishe Mokwa Hike & Fly

[DarthSLR]

I hiked through the area scorched by the recent wildfires. The experience was somewhat surreal.
I made it (barely) to the Balanced Rock, which I have never done before. In the process, I was able to capture some drone footage with my Mavic 2 Pro.
Tried POI (circle) for the first time.
And totally screwed hyper-lapse, since my last battery was almost out of juice.
I also made a rookie mistake: I wanted to try waypoint hyper-lapse, so I recorded the first point just above me and started to move out with the intention to reverse the route, as it has been suggested. Concerned by the battery nearing 50%, I wanted to get out faster so I switched to Sport mode... Bham, Hyper-lapse point is off, and my recorded point lost. I tried to do freestyle, but got nervous and ended up with pretty bad results. Luckliy I was saving all RAW files, so I was able to salvage some decent still frames. I might go there again tomorrow w/o hiking and try it with a fresh set of batteries and maybe even with my new set of ND/CP filters that I got for Xmas.

I'm attaching a couple of results here, the full set can be found at my site.

 

[macfawlty]

Your amazing pics and video clips make up for all of your stated rookie mistakes. Well worth anyone’s time to view the gallery.

 

[DarthSLR]

Your amazing pics and video clips make up for all of your stated rookie mistakes. Well worth anyone’s time to view the gallery.

You're too kind, thank you very much.

 

[macfawlty]

I’m in MD, never even heard of Mishe Mokwa, much less seen any pics of it. Even though some of your flights didn’t play out, it was a very productive flying day. Is it always so clear there or were you just lucky? How far did you have to hike from the nearest parking area? How many batteries did you go through?

 

[DarthSLR]

I’m in MD, never even heard of Mishe Mokwa, much less seen any pics of it. Even though some of your flights didn’t play out, it was a very productive flying day. Is it always so clear there or were you just lucky? How far did you have to hike from the nearest parking area? How many batteries did you go through?

While Mishe Mokwa is definitely a reference to Longfellow's Hiawatha, for us Southern Californians it is (or, rather, used to be) one of the most scenic nature trails in Santa Monica Mountains.nature trails in Santa Monica Mountains. Dangerous/creepy nowadays.

It is always clear here. We're lucky if we get any clouds, so lucky in this respect.

It was a 5-mile hike round trip, 2+2 on a decent (even if rough) trial and 0.5 + 0.5 on a non-NPS sanctioned trail to the Balanced Rock, where I was really scared for my life.

All in all, I went through 3 batteries (all I have and all that fits in the case)

 

[MotorPsycho]

Excellent shots. Personally, I prefer stills. Newbie that I am, I've shot one video so far.

What is dangerous/creepy about the Santa Monica nature trails?

Just curious. I'm hiking similar trails in South Central Arizona, some of which are just a handful of miles from the border with Mexico.

 

[DarthSLR]

Excellent shots. Personally, I prefer stills. Newbie that I am, I've shot one video so far.

What is dangerous/creepy about the Santa Monica nature trails?

Just curious. I'm hiking similar trails in South Central Arizona, some of which are just a handful of miles from the border with Mexico.

Most of the official trails are easy, well and frequently travelled, and pose no threat, except for occasional poison oak outgrowth. However, the non-sanctioned ones, like the one to the Balanced Rock, which is used primarily by the climbing aficionados to climb the Echo Cliffs right beneath it, is a completely different story. If you fall, you won't stop till the very bottom, now that there is no brush to catch you, and it can be 100+ ft fall. And even a sprang ankle can become a real issue, since there is no service, and you're two miles out in a deep canyon very few people venture in, good luck calling for help.
So yeah, I went alone, unprepared (not even hiking pole) and I got lucky. Next time I get better prepared and hopefully with some company.

 

[MotorPsycho]

Gotcha. Remoteness and self reliance don’t worry me much. I tend to get nervous in the vicinity of alpha predators, like grizzlies and armed sociopaths.

 

[DarthSLR]

Gotcha. Remoteness and self reliance don’t worry me much. I tend to get concerned when in the vicinity of known alpha predators, like grizzleys and armed sociopaths.

I hear ya. When I travel in AZ with my local friends they are usually packing something like .45 or AR-15

 

[BD0G]

**** ! Those clouds with the sunlight poking through would have made some surreal Hyperlapses! The light was just right and so were the clouds for some otherworldly sequences.

How were the cloud photos processed?

 

[DarthSLR]

**** ! Those clouds with the sunlight poking through would have made some surreal Hyperlapses! The light was just right and so were the clouds for some otherworldly sequences.

How were the cloud photos processed?

I took three hyperlapses, all here: 2018-12-23 Sandstone Peak Trailhead - Nikolai Sklobovsky

Process: shot in HDR, enhanced in ACR.

 

[Derlisz]

What a place. Really good.