On a day near (I hope) the end of Winter here, a few hours of bright sunlight made a trip to the lake enjoyable. Even on a three-day holiday weekend, there was almost no one else there! In two or three miles of coastline, there were three lonely camper vans parked, and none of their occupants in sight. Perfect. I put the drones up three times to be sure I captured the scene.
Of course, those who have seen the many YouTube videos of drones going down know that putting them out over large bodies of water carries risk.
Wyatt Earp once said, "Fast is fine, but accurate is final."
In the world of drones, "Soaring is fine, but splashing is final."
All ended well, I brought them right back to my two launching spots along the shore.
Hope you enjoy the view!
Shadow of the Hawk
On a windy day, I explored a new spot farther down the river.
As I used the drone to survey the river and its surrounding desert, I didn't realize that a hawk I had spotted earlier was taking an unhealthy interest in my drone.
Sure enough, as I brought the drone down to find my launch point, the hawk swooped in and the drone's camera caught the shadow.
After the wind made flying over the water risky, I left and returned a few days later. This time I flew from atop a high cliff and looked North and South along the river, dropping down to look at the spot where I launched and the hawk came in. No hawk today.
Then I drove up a nearby canyon where some 20-30-foot tall hoodoos survived the flash floods that occur frequently here.
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Everybody knows by now that I love to fly above bodies of water surrounded by desert. This is no exception. The contrast in the colors is striking, and each lake has unique coastlines, bays and islands.
After recent violent storms and rain, this day was clear, scrubbed of windblown dust. So, I made the most of it and did some soaring.
A few boaters were out, with just a few stragglers on the beach. In nearly deserted days like these, I can put the drone up and not have it bother anyone.
Since after a while any lake is just a lake, I use boats wherever I could find them to add a bit of motion to the videos.
This is a short visit to a place I hadn't tried before. The Sun was lined up perfectly to bring out the contrasting colors and textures, especially in the multi-colored rock formations.
Three young visitors were on the deserted beach, so I launched a drone to demonstrate what the Inspire could do.
The bay was somewhat longer than I had expected, so I had to fly 6/10s of a mile out to get a decent lake view. Then I returned to near the launch point so I could fly to the mountain and examine the varicolored mineral deposits, relics of an ancient sea floor.
Nevada is mineral-rich. Iron, copper, sulfur, and other minerals cause patches of color in characteristic hues (red for iron, yellow for sulfur, a shade of green for copper).
Up Close Echo Bay - The Abandoned Resort At Lake Mead
During extended droughts combined with growing population, the lake level dropped so far that the resort's customers no longer used the marina. That loss of income caused a financial drain, and the resort eventually went out of business.
Here's a newspaper report from the time!
I had two pleasant flights in ideal conditions, one from up by the resort buildings and the other down near the water from the helicopter pad (with the ‘H’). Let’s hope this isn’t a metaphor for the entire southwest…
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