Flying in Central Colorado

[pcooper114]

I made the mistake of posting in the r/boulder subreddit about a trip I'm making to Colorado this weekend and pretty much just pissed everyone off, so I thought I'd post here to get some ideas...

I'm a Part 107 pilot (but this is more of a recreational trip) .I'll be in Boulder for a football game on Friday night, but all friday I'll be spending the day between Boulder and Black Hawk, flying around and between all the red tape. I have a few places picked out, and I've been pretty careful about where I'm planning on going and not being in any wilderness areas (even though they are pretty poorly mapped out).

Saturday I'll start in Dillon and work my way back towards Boulder, pretty much doing the same thing.

So I'm looking for any cool places you people may know that might be good places to fly from. Bonus points for place that I won't get hounded by people that have no understanding of drone laws!

 

[hank970]

Friday, probably before your game starts, I'll be driving east on I-70 from Fruita to Denver, and I plan to stop at the rest area atop Vail Pass for some recreational flying and to shoot a bit of video of the view looking east toward Copper Mountain Ski Area. I'd like to capture footage of cyclists on the bike path that runs down the valley. The rest area is a construction zone, but on my last visit, there was ample parking in a large gravel lot associated with the construction activity. Nobody has ever given me any grief for launching there. Ditto the frontage roads here and there along the interstate.

Dillon Lake is nice too, provided water levels are high. Instead of driving through the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnels on I-70, I'd also recommend a drive over Loveland Pass. You should be able to get some nice views of Grays and Torreys Peaks, two of Colorado's 14ers, from up there.

The delineation of wilderness boundaries is pretty vague, even in my Colorado Gazetteer. I assume that, if you launch from a road or highway right-of-way, you'd be OK. By definition, wilderness areas are roadless. I'm not familiar with USFS regulations but, if they're like USNPS regulations, they may not expressly forbid flights over wilderness. They just forbid launching, landing, and operation of drones within wilderness areas. Same with Part 107. It adopts USFS regulations but doesn't expressly forbid flights over wilderness. Think about it: Other aircraft like Cessnas and 737s fly at various altitudes over wilderness areas all the time, and nobody gives it a second thought.

 

[pcooper114]

Friday, probably before your game starts, I'll be driving east on I-70 from Fruita to Denver, and I plan to stop at the rest area atop Vail Pass for some recreational flying and to shoot a bit of video of the view looking east toward Copper Mountain Ski Area. I'd like to capture footage of cyclists on the bike path that runs down the valley. The rest area is a construction zone, but on my last visit, there was ample parking in a large gravel lot associated with the construction activity. Nobody has ever given me any grief for launching there. Ditto the frontage roads here and there along the interstate.

Dillon Lake is nice too, provided water levels are high. Instead of driving through the Eisenhower/Johnson Tunnels on I-70, I'd also recommend a drive over Loveland Pass. You should be able to get some nice views of Grays and Torreys Peaks, two of Colorado's 14ers, from up there.

The delineation of wilderness boundaries is pretty vague, even in my Colorado Gazetteer. I assume that, if you launch from a road or highway right-of-way, you'd be OK. By definition, wilderness areas are roadless. I'm not familiar with USFS regulations but, if they're like USNPS regulations, they may not expressly forbid flights over wilderness. They just forbid launching, landing, and operation of drones within wilderness areas. Same with Part 107. It adopts USFS regulations but doesn't expressly forbid flights over wilderness. Think about it: Other aircraft like Cessnas and 737s fly at various altitudes over wilderness areas all the time, and nobody gives it a second thought.

Yea that's what I've told myself - I'm a classic rule follower and don't want to disrespect the area of people at all. Got a lot of hate on my post on Reddit that made me think twice about it all, but I've confirmed that everywhere I have mapped is fair game and not in any prohibited areas. So screw em I guess