Jackson Meadows August 2016 #3

Tiny me next to the RV

Ben and I had a great time up at Jackson Meadows, again this year.  Lake was down about ten feet but not as bad as a year ago this time.  Pass Creek was as low as I’ve ever seen it.  Lots of small bees.  In fact, while fishing along the shoreline I could hear a steady buzz.  This trip was all about trying out and learning my new GoPro Hero 4 Silver (thanks to my beloved Katie).  Love it (and her)!  We did time-lapse of the sunset, underwater, and messed around with remote recording via my smart phone.

Tiny me next to the RV

I tried to see how far I could go flying the drone straight toward English Mountain, but only got a little over a mile away when I lost connection.  The DJI Phantom has a fail safe feature that kicks in whenever it loses connection, whereby it simply returns back to the home point.   Which it did, just perfectly.  Other owners have gone up to four miles and they advertise up to three miles, but conditions have to be pretty perfect.  In my case, there were ridges with lots of trees that blocked my line of sight, and thats why I lost it.

Fishing was not good, only got two small ones that I let go.  Water temp was at 68 degrees so that might be the reason for the lazy fish.  Lots of them there tho as seen on my fishfinder.  In the cooler fall weather I think it will pick up.

While filming the sunset I happened to look for my kayak only to notice it was gone.  I couldn’t believe my eyes at first.  Turns out I hadn’t pulled it far enough onto the shoreline, so with the wind picking up in the afternoon, it pulled loose and drifted down to a nearby cove.  Thats where I found it, with a major sigh of relief.  Looking at my videos taken by the drone, I now see how precariously I had docked it.

Several mistakes with the drone.  One was I forgot to change the recording back to 2.7k HD so the video is in 720p.  The other mistake was following a jet skier about 30 feet above him, while he pulled a wake board, making terrific patterns in the blue waters, only to find out later that I had forgotten to turn on the video.  Ugh!!  Oh well  hopefully I’ll get another chance.

Weather was in the 80s daytime and low 40s at night, so made for good sleeping weather.  Ben ate a lot of bees.

Author: Geoff

Quick rundown: Grew up in Lombard, Illinois, went to Arizona State University, worked as a CPA with Arthur Andersen & Co, then Laventhal and Horwath, then Rolling Stones, then Heron International, then Goodby Berlin and Silverstein in San Francisco. Moved to the foothills in 1990 and traded futures and designed websites. Married to Kate Stewart, now living in Colfax, CA. We have six grandchildren. I enjoy camping in our RV, hiking, kayaking, fishing, droning and cross country skiing Also conga drumming, photography and dogs.

3 thoughts on “Jackson Meadows August 2016 #3”

  1. Putz, just saw this for the first time. GREAT! Mia, my kitty, watched it with me for a while, but I think she got a bit nauseous when it came to the water camera work (which i LOVED), as she had to lay down then and look away. Great stuff. You do have a good time out there. I guess you don’t spend your time reading anymore.

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