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Mini Mini 2 Mountain runs

Wow, I think leaned my whole body to the right a little to avoid the rock at 2:23!

That was great, man! It’s incredible how much dimension and speed flying low like that adds. Nice flying.
 
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Wow, I think leaned my whole body to the right a little to avoid the rock at 2:23!

That was great, man! It’s incredible how much dimension and speed flying low like that adds. Nice flying.
Yeah, that was the drone kinda doing its own thing. I have had the Mini 2 suddenly go off in its own direction several times! Not sure why, perhaps a poor signal or strong winds. I can correct for it and in this case I banked to the right to avoid impact. I'm ok with it since I can always steer out of it and it rarely happens.
 
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Nice !

Where exactly is this ?

and, How far away from home were able to fly ?
 
Wow, I hade goosebumps at 2.23 ? I like your region very much and I enjoyed the flight throug h the desert and the rocks! You where very courageous to fly so far away...How far was it BTW?
cheers Paul
 
Wow! Some nice flying. Was any footage sped up in post? And as for 2:25....Well you nearly had a long unplanned and hot retrieval trek right there! How far out did you fly? ?? Nice soundtrack as well!
 
Thanks folks. Yes, some footage is at 2X, some at normal speed. This was filmed at the south end of the Spring Mountains which are located 30 miles west of Las Vegas. Entrance is by highway 160 on 4WD roads (motorcycle for me) and this area is around 4 miles north of there. It is also around 4 miles south of the Spring Mountain Ranch which was owned by Howard Hughes who built a ranch there to keep his wife out of the hot desert below down in vegas in the 1950's. It is an awesome area, many of the canyons are so narrow that they receive almost no sunlight throughtout the year at the deep reaches in the back. A favorite area for rock climbers and mountain bikers. I wont discuss flight distances here but I will discuss altitude. These mountains are much higher than the max altitude of the Mini 2. I have hiked half way up and am still unable to reach the summits of most of them. I always set the RTH to the max in these mountains because the walls are very narrow and it is easy to get slightly off set to the side of a wall and lose connection. I have had it happen and so far the signal always returns after the drone climbs a few hundred feet after which I cancel the RTH and continue the flight.
Thanks Dale, I will try the cross dissolve next time, still experimenting with editing.
We are expecting 2-4" of snow here tomorrow! That is huge for this area, could make some awesome droning so I am looking forward to it! Thanks
 
Beautiful area & great flying! I used to climb there and your passes were so close I swear I could see routes I remember!

You probably already know of Bridge Mountain, but if not that would be a great place to shoot some of the deeper canyons and narrow formations at the tops of the drainages. Accessible via 4x4 with additional hiking, but worth it. I didn’t own a drone when I used to visit the region but your shots make me want to go back - thanks!

Howard
 
Very nice. You did well flying so high into those hills. I would be scared to lose my signal (and my drone) up in those canyons. So much good hiking in that area. Lots of old native-American petroglyphs can be found on the rocks along those foothills also. I met a guy who worked for the department of the interior once. His job was to hike around, locate and record where these petroglyphs were, and send the info to the department of the interior who would then send out specialist archaeologists to document the findings. How do I get that job!! Haha!?
 
Beautiful area & great flying! I used to climb there and your passes were so close I swear I could see routes I remember!

You probably already know of Bridge Mountain, but if not that would be a great place to shoot some of the deeper canyons and narrow formations at the tops of the drainages. Accessible via 4x4 with additional hiking, but worth it. I didn’t own a drone when I used to visit the region but your shots make me want to go back - thanks!

Howard
Bridge Mountain was always a favorite of mine. Probably some of the most exposed and scary non-roped climbing I ever did was going up that ridgeline toward the arch! I have camped on top several times (perfect little hollow at the summit for 2 or 3 people). I may have to go back and do some drone footage since I also had no drone back in the days when I used to hike there a lot.
 
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Bridge Mountain was always a favorite of mine. Probably some of the most exposed and scary non-roped climbing I ever did was going up that ridgeline toward the arch! I have camped on top several times (perfect little hollow at the summit for 2 or 3 people). I may have to go back and do some drone footage since I also had no drone back in the days when I used to hike there a lot.
Thanks for that. I have been up and over the mountain in 4WD but never hiked the Bridge Mountain trail. I just checked the All Trails website and saw that arch up there, man that sure looks awesome! I can get to the trailhead with my motorcycle and may have to give it a try. At 72 I am good for around 8 miles of hiking a day but not sure I have the climbing skills to reach the arch. But if I can get to within visual sight of it I might be able to send the drone over to it? I'll have to put that on on my to do do list!
I have seen a few petroglyphs down along the lower rocks, including one of a man riding a horse! That one was interesting because it has to have been more recent after the Spanishr re-introduced the horse to North America.
 
Thanks for that. I have been up and over the mountain in 4WD but never hiked the Bridge Mountain trail. I just checked the All Trails website and saw that arch up there, man that sure looks awesome! I can get to the trailhead with my motorcycle and may have to give it a try. At 72 I am good for around 8 miles of hiking a day but not sure I have the climbing skills to reach the arch. But if I can get to within visual sight of it I might be able to send the drone over to it? I'll have to put that on on my to do do list!
I have seen a few petroglyphs down along the lower rocks, including one of a man riding a horse! That one was interesting because it has to have been more recent after the Spanishr re-introduced the horse to North America.
The hike to Bridge Mtn is tricky. Helps to have someone who has done it before to show you the route. When you reach a certain point and you look across the saddle at the backside of Bridge you think to yourself "That CANNOT be climbed without ropes?!" Personally I would hike over the hill from the trailhed and down to the ponds then find a good spot up on the rocks overlooking the backside of bridge mountain to launch the drone. From there you should be able to fly across to the arch and up to the summit without too much trouble. I bet you could launch from within a half mile of the summit and have clear line of sight without obstructions the entire time. That last half mile is some of the scariest hiking/climbing you will ever do without ropes.
 
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Thanks for that. I have been up and over the mountain in 4WD but never hiked the Bridge Mountain trail. I just checked the All Trails website and saw that arch up there, man that sure looks awesome! I can get to the trailhead with my motorcycle and may have to give it a try. At 72 I am good for around 8 miles of hiking a day but not sure I have the climbing skills to reach the arch. But if I can get to within visual sight of it I might be able to send the drone over to it? I'll have to put that on on my to do do list!
I have seen a few petroglyphs down along the lower rocks, including one of a man riding a horse! That one was interesting because it has to have been more recent after the Spanishr re-introduced the horse to North America.
You could definitely get great drone imagery without heading to the arch - just take the trail to the base of the skinny ridge crossing over to the mountain and fly from there. When we scrambled to the summit I kept looking at this apparently thin crack leading up from where that ridge meets the mountain thinking “...that looks like a nasty 5.9 offwidth...”. When we reached it’s base it was wide, not that steep and provided a nice secure gully to scramble up unroped. You might spend some time on Google Earth looking at those canyons dropping down either side of the ridge for scenes to capture. But don’t crash your drone in there....

Howard
 
Thanks guys. I checked out a couple Youtube videos of others hiking to the top of Bridge Mountain and all I can say is WOW! That is an awesome peak. Now I have the bug and will have to see how close I can get to it. The last part of the hike is way beyond my skills. I am pretty sure I can get close enough to be able to drone to the summit and perhaps fly over it. Anything over 5500' elevation should be enough to reach it if it is within view (its close to 7000'). I have done Turtle Head peak 2 years ago and that is about my limit but of course that hardly compares. And to be safe I'll try to talk my son into coming along with me, he has a 4WD to reach the trail head. If the drone goes down up there its gone of course! Thanks again, Jim
 
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