Needles, California & the Colorado River
Winter 2015

The Colorado River feeds a good-sized water system just southeast of Needles, California. The river is placid on days like that on which I visited, a moving, glassy mirror.  It was a pleasure merely to observe from the sky.

Part of that Needles river and lake system are across the river in Topock, which lies on the Arizona side of the river. Those lakes in the Topock complex are broad and scenic, lined with thick shrubbery and trees. Hazardous for drones, but very attractive.

On a quick one-day trip, I stopped near the Topock bridge into Arizona (bottom of map), then drove northward into Topock and flew the Inspire Pro drone out over Topock Bay and the maze of lakes in the wetlands.

Driving North from Topock, I crossed the Colorado River just North of Needles. Finding a well-situated launch point again, I put the Inspire Pro up to take in the contrast between the Colorado and the desert. Behind the bridge in that last video, you can see the Needles mountain formations, for which the town is named.

Driving on toward home, I stopped at yet another sizeable lake. All of these bodies of water in our desert illustrate that we really have many of dams and lakes in Nevada and Arizona as well as California.