When I mentioned the new drone to a friend, Paul Worthen, he suggested a place an hour North of Las Vegas where the ATV community go to roar all over the desert on miles of trails. From his description, it was small but had everything I would want in colorful scenery.
I drove up to the North end of No-Water-In-It Lake Mead (if you don't want to sleep nights, look at the dry bottom of a lake that provides the water for southern California, Nevada and Arizona).
Trying not to think about that, I put the drone in the air to gain a high view:
Pretty nice! The Phantom has an Android with fingertip controls, so I adjusted the aim and looked around.
There are ATV trails everywhere! The desert here has rounded hills without big rocks or gullies to tip over the vehicles. A pleasant small park site acts as the gathering place when large numbers of enthusiasts show up. I'm standing down there, steering the drone:
While the desert area is expansive, the red rock canyon here is fairly small: I maneuvered the drone to just soak it all in from up where the birds soar:
The Phantom is very stable, and it has a motorized gimbel system; There isn't any jitter in the video.
This is a great place to fly and a tough place to walk. The rocks are sharp, and they break easily to send you tumbling. Better to ride in the drone and soar up to a higher vantage point, where the distant mountains come into view.
The road goes ever onward...
As I was leaving after enjoying the warm colors of the early-morning Sun, the first of the ATV riders came roaring up the road, throwing up huge clouds of dust.
I was happy to be done with my photographing,because I suspected the vehicles would reduce the visibility as they roared around.
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