Video TR: Lake Powell (Lone Rock Beach CG) & Antelope Canyon

[FirstTracks]

We spent Thanksgiving camped right on the beach at Lake Powell, and it's resulted in my personal favorite video TR thus far.

We camped at Lone Rock Beach, a dispersed camping area maintained by the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. It was busy for the holiday weekend, but not overly so. For those who may consider it, it's $14/night with rock solid cell service, at least it was for me on Verizon.







There's a dump station and water fill on site, although they had the water turned off for the winter. Instead I was able to fill up for free just down the road at the Wahweap Marina & RV Campground.

While in the area, we entered the lottery to hike The Wave, visited a ghost town in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and toured Antelope Canyon:



We also visited Glen Canyon Dam, and went 4x4 for the most amazing views of Lake Powell from Alstrom Point...with unexpected complications:



The video is located here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGlbYKsD7xc

It was a wonderful way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday.

[answerswillvary]

Bionic Man wrote:
There is a reason that political discussions are banned on this forum. Please don't take it down that road so that this topic can stay active.

Note from the Moderator: Please keep the politics out of this thread or I will have to close it down.

[Bionic_Man]

There is a reason that political discussions are banned on this forum. Please don't take it down that road so that this topic can stay active.

[ppine]

Glen Canyon Dam is one of the great political boondogles of modern times. It no longer produces any power, and is not used for irrigation. The lake evaporates huge quantities of water. It is used only for recreationa and buried Glen Canyon, one of the wonders of North America.

Removing the dam would greatly reduce evaporation loss and allow for much more water to reach Lake Meade where it is really needed.

[Bionic_Man]

ppine wrote:
I hope we get to see Glen Canyon without the lake in my lifetime.

The lake occupies a very small portion of GCNRA. You have plenty of opportunity to enjoy non-lake portions right now.

I hope the lake is there for generations to come.

[FirstTracks]

memtb wrote:
Pretty pictures and good info. DW and I have, for years, wanted to get down there and do some serious fishing. With retirement “ in the rear view mirror”, we’re hoping to head down there with boat in tow. Maybe this spring/early summer.

You won't regret it. I have seen some serious bass fishing going on while kayaking east of Bullfrog.

[ppine]

A very intersting place. I have done one trip on the lake. I hope we get to see Glen Canyon without the lake in my lifetime.

[memtb]

Pretty pictures and good info. DW and I have, for years, wanted to get down there and do some serious fishing. With retirement “ in the rear view mirror”, we’re hoping to head down there with boat in tow. Maybe this spring/early summer.

[Farmboy666]

FirstTracks wrote:

Farmboy666 wrote:
DJI and a lot of drone owners like the fact of registering because they say it promotes safety and accountability because your reg number is on your drone. Not sure if I agree or not but don’t have much choice at this point.

True. But for both of the purposes that you mention I've actually accomplished the same things by labeling my drone with my name and phone number, both on the outside and beneath the battery. For a recreational pilot to get a reg number you need only pay $5 and nothing more, so it truly seems like a money grab.

Farmboy666 wrote:
At least NF aren’t on the no fly zone yet.

Also true. Or BLM, which together with National Forest comprises most of the public land around us.

It's more than a money grab, It's an ID grab, Yours is labeled but that doesn't give them your info just the person who finds your drone.

[FirstTracks]

Farmboy666 wrote:
DJI and a lot of drone owners like the fact of registering because they say it promotes safety and accountability because your reg number is on your drone. Not sure if I agree or not but don’t have much choice at this point.

True. But for both of the purposes that you mention I've actually accomplished the same things by labeling my drone with my name and phone number, both on the outside and beneath the battery. For a recreational pilot to get a reg number you need only pay $5 and nothing more, so it truly seems like a money grab.

Farmboy666 wrote:
At least NF aren’t on the no fly zone yet.

Also true. Or BLM, which together with National Forest comprises most of the public land around us.

[Farmboy666]

DJI and a lot of drone owners like the fact of registering because they say it promotes safety and accountability because your reg number is on your drone. Not sure if I agree or not but don’t have much choice at this point. At least NF aren’t on the no fly zone yet.

[FirstTracks]

Bionic Man wrote:

FirstTracks wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:

I am NOT trying to give you a hard time, rather just inform you. Use of drones is illegal at Lake Powell. Not sure if it is enforced, but thought you might want to know.

Powell Rules

Oh ****. Thanks for letting me know! I thought that only applied to National Parks, and not NRAs. And oddly, the DJI app that controls the drone is designed to alert me when I'm in a no-fly zone. I've deliberately powered on the app within National Parks to check, and verified that it alerted there, but it didn't do so at Powell.

Again, sincere thanks for letting me know.

Sure thing. I think it is a stupid rule, and I hope that it is rescinded.

It really makes no sense. I understand and actually agree with the rules for National Parks -- can you imagine what a junk show that would be with every kid with a drone launching theirs?

However, NRAs just make no sense to me. Most National Parks are densely populated by visitors, whereas nost NRAs I'm familiar with are a) massive; and b) very sparsely populated by visitors. I mean, GCNRA alone is 1.25 million acres! That's nearly 2000 square miles! When I flew at Alstrom Point near the end of the video, I swear that there wasn't a soul within 10 miles of where I was standing. Exactly who would I be bothering?

In my opinion, restricting someone from flying a drone in a 2,000 square mile area just because the NPS manages the land, is a ridiculous overreach of their administrative authority. And to be technical, the NPS has no authority over the airspace, the FAA does. Which means you could launch from, and return to land immediately adjacent to the NRA and fly over it completely legally. That's why the NPS can't keep airplanes from flying over NRAs. Using a drone to reach a spot in the middle of a 1.25 million-acre plot is virtually impossible. However, I would have been able to legally fly over Lone Rock Beach as there is non-NRA land within 7 km of the camping area, which is the operating range of my drone. I could have simply driven over there, launched my drone, flew the same flight pattern and landed back where I took off from, and that would not have violated anything.

If you will, imagine the loud uproar if the NPS decided to declare a 2,000 square-mile area encompassing all of Lake Powell a non-motorized area, with no vehicles allowed? Access could only be by foot, which would take many days to reach certain parts. No land motor vehicles, no power boats. I sincerely doubt that rule would be passed without opposition as this one apparently was, yet in reality the principles behind this hypothetical rule are not any different than they are behind their no-drone policy.

I wouldn't hold my breath for the rule to be rescinded anytime soon, for the percentage of people engaging in drone photography is still miniscule, and therefore lacks the clout to resist that rule. Look at the recent roller coaster where recreational drone enthusiasts had to register their aircraft with the FAA, then were told they didn't, then were told again that they had to, all within the span of less than a year. The industry still lacks sufficient critical mass to stand up to such shenanigans. However, as the number of aerial photographers increases sometime down the road that may change.

Apologies for venting and thread drift.

[Bionic_Man]

FirstTracks wrote:

Bionic Man wrote:

I am NOT trying to give you a hard time, rather just inform you. Use of drones is illegal at Lake Powell. Not sure if it is enforced, but thought you might want to know.

Powell Rules

Oh ****. Thanks for letting me know! I thought that only applied to National Parks, and not NRAs. And oddly, the DJI app that controls the drone is designed to alert me when I'm in a no-fly zone. I've deliberately powered on the app within National Parks to check, and verified that it alerted there, but it didn't do so at Powell.

Again, sincere thanks for letting me know.

Sure thing. I think it is a stupid rule, and I hope that it is rescinded.

[Bionic_Man]

azdryheat wrote:
That's some low water.

It is actually up quite a bit over prior years. Do your snow dance for a big winter to continue bringing levels up!

[FirstTracks]

azdryheat wrote:
That's some low water.

It is indeed quite low, but of course I was there at the lowest point of the year.