CHASING CANYONS - Utah Backcountry Adventures Part 1

Flying in the Utah backcountry is highly sensitive, and access has been at risk. If you choose to fly here, please research the area, follow local guidelines, and practice responsible stewardship. The Utah Backcountry Pilots Association is a great resource for pilots looking to explore this region. All right, bright and early on a beautiful Monday morning. Locked and loaded, we are heading to Southern Utah Moab area to hang with a bunch of guys, shoot some awesome content, and do some camping. ♪ Hey little mama, what you say this time? ♪ ♪ You go your way and I'll go. ♪ ♪ We never really had it figured out. ♪ ♪ And it feels like I'm moving on a merry-go-round. ♪ ♪ Clash of moving nowhere. ♪ Just flew over Top Gun out of Falun, Nass, which is, I think, Naval Air Station. And we are about to enter all the restricteds out here, but we're on flight following with a squat code. They said the restricteds are cold, so it still feels weird. But if they're not hot, then we're good. ♪ Should, hold me close, tell me I'm so good. ♪ ♪ I'm your man, I'm your hero tonight. ♪ ♪ Take me by the hand and everything's all right. ♪ ♪ I'm all right. ♪ Healy traffic, the first of the flight is on a left base for runway 18 to be a full stop. Healy. ♪ I'm all right. ♪ Quick stop in Healy for a little pee break. Back in the air. Healy traffic, flight of two cubs is taking runway 18 at alpha two. Be a straight out. Actually, we'll be a left turn eastbound. ♪ I said that four times, but you just blew my mind. ♪ ♪ That solo fire, that crackle sizzles my soul. ♪ ♪ And I just found love with a 45 and kept alive in a box. ♪ ♪ Oh, we're 30 years old and I don't know what it is. ♪ ♪ But there's something there. Yeah, I hear that. ♪ White skit fox, all right. So, we're in and all the other guys out here. Cubs, I don't know. It's just a zoo. Roger that. Carl, did you find the firewall yet? I've been there the whole time, buddy. I'm in trail. I'm like, I'm pedaling pretty good right now. I bet Carl's not keeping up. So happy I rejoined all the way out here. Man, last time I was here, had to have been end of 2017. Right when I started the YouTube channel, I came flying with the Flying Cowboys and the Flight Test guys. So, holy cow. That was eight years ago. All right, is my math right? I think so. Wow, these slot canyons right here are just awesome. And I'm gonna park halfway down. I see a pullout, so I'll get into there and get out of your guys' way. ♪ And the beat breaks through your bones ♪ ♪ Don't try to get your doubts home ♪ ♪ There's a love fire on the line gonna take you home ♪ ♪ Oh my love fire ♪ All right, we finally got the crew together. Christian's the one that kind of organized all this. So, you got quite the gaggle. Oh God. I'm meeting a lot of people that I know from social media, but not in real life. Kind of funny. And then now I just told everyone there's petroglyphs over there. Funny story is it's been eight years since I've been here, so I don't really remember where they are, but I think they're over there. We're going on a hike and I might be a wild goose chase. What do you think? You like that rock? I do, I wanna take it home, but I don't know if I can succeed in the weight limit on a cub. I was right. There are petroglyphs. There we go. See? Absolutely cool. Nate drew those last week. He's like, those are new. All right, carrying on. I wanna go drop my camping gear. So we're gonna go to the private strip we're gonna be camping at for the next few days. Go drop our gear. And then I would like some lunch, but at some point this evening we better go fly cause it is just too beautiful out here. ♪ Smoke clouds above my head ♪ ♪ Lightning through my skin, my eyes go red ♪ ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ ♪ So young, dumb but proud ♪ ♪ Too high to come back down and never look again ♪ ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ ♪ I feel that sunshine, I see those blue eyes ♪ ♪ That little kiss, me smile, it's got me going wild ♪ ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ ♪ Long ride, we'll drive ♪ ♪ She sang along in the passenger side, she sang my song ♪ ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ So, just landed at this awesome little private strip that we were invited to come land at and potentially camp at. So, we're gonna drop some of our gear here with the assumption that we're camping here. I think that's the plan. But we wanna go play, it's beautiful out. So, drop some gear, go flying. ♪ Yeah, I feel that sunshine, I see those blue eyes ♪ ♪ That little kiss, me smile, it's got me going wild ♪ ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ ♪ Still have that photograph, black and white ♪ ♪ But it takes me back, that summer love ♪ And actually what I'm gonna do is cut right before the next thing. ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ Okay, I got you in sight, still I'm above you. ♪ I feel that sunshine, I see those blue eyes ♪ ♪ That little kiss, me smile, it's got me going wild ♪ ♪ And I feel it all again ♪ Just landed at Mineral Canyon, never been here before. This place is absolutely stunning. And Tristan followed me and it was funny, I did like a great landing, he got the shot perfect and then was like, oh, I forgot to hit record. And I'm like, totally done that. So I did a couple more, but I'm gonna throw the drone in the air, get some shots of the other guys. Yeah, what a beautiful freaking day, this is solid. What'd you say? That was awesome. This place is beautiful. This is beautiful, huh? Like look at where we're at, like look around. This is pretty unreal. We're gonna go say hi to the other guys because I think Russ is here. That was good. I don't know if we've ever met in person. We haven't, Russ, yup. Good to meet you. Hey. Nice to meet you. Good to meet you. I'm Ryan. Ryan, great to meet you, yeah. You don't mind if I film some of this? Yeah, Russ, I feel like I've known you forever because I follow you online. Anyone that doesn't follow Russ on Instagram, you need to. You just, you live the right life. Like, I'm trying my best and then I, I watch what Russ does and I'm like, oh, but goals. We're just gonna get you a helicopter and we're in helicopter places. Yes. Come on. What's happening here? So I got a danger napkin hooked up in here. I'm gonna deploy that thing, see if I can't fly away. No matter how rowdy the stuff you do, there's always somebody that's rowdier stuff. I thought they were joking. Clearly not joking. Look who made it. Barely. Barely made it. Barely, dude, you were almost out of light. They were gonna tell you to go the other way. Good to see ya. Nice. Good morning, everyone. This is a unique place. I've never stayed anywhere like this. We were very fortunate that the guys over at Redtail Air, they're the FBO at Canyonlands or the Moab Airport. They were the ones that got us connected with the people that have this private strip that we landed at and then right next door, there's kind of this glamping area. So I actually stayed in a cave last night, which is cool. It's the first time I've ever done that. It was surprisingly warm. I don't know if the sun just bakes these rocks and heats them up throughout the day, but it was hard to get this thing cooled off and I'm sure the other guys stayed in some of the pre-setup tents and I'm sure they had the opposite problem. That was a little chilly. Looks like a beautiful day. We're gonna get the guys. We're gonna go out to somewhere to go shoot some stuff from the FPV drone and the regular drone and ground and just have some fun flying down here. Christian, it's very light out. Yeah. We were getting a very late start on this, at least in my mind. I'm like, I wanna be, if we're gonna shoot content, I'm shooting at sunrise, not at eight. We're gonna go out. You got some Spire you wanna film with that? So we're gonna go find somewhere to land so you can hike up, set up some drone shots and then we're gonna go meet up with the other guys and just see what we get into. And we're just heading for Hanksville. It's probably the closest waypoint. You guys can follow me. I just got off the ground. All the water leaving your wings. Oh yeah. That's rad. Look at the Insta 360. That's awesome. That's such a cool plane. This thing is sick. It's so cool. Slow down if you want. Yeah, maybe for the guys in the back, slow down just a little bit. That's more flat there. Heading towards, what do you call this place? Where we're heading to? Yeah, Longadong Silver Spire. Is that what people actually name it? Yeah, it's literally called Longadong. Longadong Silver. I think it's like 150 feet tall and it's just like a black spire just right in the middle of it. All of this looks very, very safe. I mean, I'd almost roll right up to the cars there. Whoa, Ryan got a little rowdy in there. Dude, that moisture plus the red dirt. Oh, she's filthy. You're gonna have a heyday cleaning. But seriously, I am glad I didn't wash my plane before this just because the condensation this morning plus the red dirt, like this thing is just cooked. All right, you're good for your hike? Mr. Christian, we're almost there. ♪ We keep playing with fire ♪ ♪ Knowing it's a dangerous game ♪ ♪ Yeah, we keep playing with fire ♪ We had a truck pull up when we had parked just earlier and a local rancher was like, hey, can one of you guys come help me find my cattle? Offered to pay, obviously, I'm not gonna take any money for it, but I said, sure. So he's pulling up right now and we're gonna go look for some missing cows. Hopefully save him a bunch of time on however else he would have found these things. Yeah, all right, Trent is gonna roll. I'm going to the right place, right? It's like on the Colorado River. Yeah, it's right on the river. Like on Lake Powell right there at the start? Yeah. Okay. So right now I'm at 2,200 feet above the ground, so we can go down a little bit, so we'll do that. Okay. And they're all gonna be on the north side of the river. Right, correct, yes. Okay. Are you normally like herding them around on horseback or quads, or what do you guys use? Well, we gotta use a horseback, so what has happened is the general cows that trail down this canyon just live down here, and of course they reproduce, and so they end up having maverick cattle, feral cattle is what you'd call them. Okay. Unbranded, unmarked. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so they just live down here, so they just kind of, the part, they're really not supposed to be in the park, but I think certain times of the year, the recreation area doesn't mind that they're down here. Gotcha. Just because they kind of keep things down, but as far as the vegetation, but then you get too many in here and then they just overgraze it. And so this canyon that out here about, what, one o'clock? Yeah. That's where we have to come down horseback. I know there's still cows, there's a little bunch right there underneath this. Oh yeah. Underneath your wheel? Yeah. Oh, let's see, about one, two, three, four, three? Yeah, I only see three there. Kind of hard with the sagebrush. Yeah, it's kind of hard with the brush. I kind of only see one. I don't really remember where I just, I think all this is safe, I'll just land on the dirt road. Not bad. No. Those tires and I got shocks on here kind of make you a better pilot. That's good. All right, we made it, man. All right, thank you much. Of course. Anytime. Awesome. Thanks, Nolan, for showing me around, getting to see his backyard and hopefully you found the cattle you needed. Yep, I got it. Very good, yep. Awesome. Very good. Yeah, if you ever come back, just buzz around us. We'll be watching for you, so. Sounds good. All right, thanks again. Yeah, you have a good one. All right, Ryan, Trent's gonna roll in a second. All righty, LGA's head towards, I don't know, north, east, four gallons per hour. Perfect, I'll be right behind you. All right, did you see, is everyone going to Canyonlands for lunch? I mean, yeah, like the actual airport? Yeah, it sounds like it, that's what I saw on my tip. In Canyonlands traffic, the flight of two Cubs is on a left downwind for runway one five dirt. Be a full stop. Dude, how cool is that ladder? I've never seen that before. What? That is a Pilatus thing, huh? Oh my God, that's way lighter, it's all aluminum, huh? Dude, that thing's sweet. I think I'm gonna come play. No, just finished lunch here at Moab, Canyonlands, and I think we're gonna go out and play a little more. All right, I got the blue Cub taking off behind Joe. Logan, which side of you would you like me on? Left side would be ideal. Okay, I'm at your seven o'clock, coming in at 800 feet right now. I just decided my suggestion would be just be slightly higher than me. Oh, I like riding that wash, man. You like it? We can do some rolls later. Yeah. I like how that's a loose suggestion, not a requirement. I don't care where you are. Eight, 12 o'clock? At my 12 o'clock? Maybe now, two o'clock? Hell, we lost visual. We're gonna stop right here on the ridge. Now, where is the main LZ for Plaint? I'm going to it. Oh, yeah, it's a big old strip. I'm up on your, above you, to your right. You probably got me now. Kelly's gonna shut down at the strip for Jordan. Roger that, Trent will land and shut down as well. You having fun, Ty? Dude, the gnarliest thing is coming up to cliff walls and doing like 40 miles an hour, and it's above you and you just go up. It's so bizarre compared to an airplane where you have, like, you know, you have to have energy to do it. Other than that, yeah, I mean, we just played Vietnam and it was fun. Yeah, were you flying? No. Oh, okay. No. As it gets closer, I'm thinking, pull back, pull back, pull back, and we're just right there and like making a square. Look at that backdrop, dude. This one? Yeah. Isn't that awesome? It's not bad. It doesn't get old. Found a bump. You found the wheel chalk, nature's wheel chalk? Nature's wheel chalk. How's it going? Jordan, nice. How we doing? Good, man. Good to see you again. You too. Yeah. So there's two separate missions here that would be kind of cool to at least get a grab of, right? So I know Russ wants to get some air-to-air Trent. You just tell me what you want to do while we're doing it. We just keep that communication going. So if we could put, if Trent, if that's the team right now, we put Trent and you together, however you guys want to form the formation, and then the camera ship will be, we'll just start up into the back at a safe location, and we'll just talk the whole thing through, and then come in, or Trent, Tristan, we'll be coming in, working the, you're coming around, maybe shooting side angle, back over. ♪ I used to just want more ♪ ♪ I'm done with keeping score ♪ ♪ Man, that's easier said than done, of course ♪ ♪ Man, I tried to win ♪ ♪ And then I tried again ♪ ♪ Would it be a sin to ask who I do it for? ♪ ♪ Oh, I don't want to be anybody but me ♪ ♪ No, I don't want to be anybody but me ♪ ♪ Sometimes I laugh too loud ♪ ♪ Trying to please my crowd ♪ ♪ I got good on this town, ain't that some ----? ♪ ♪ Cause it's a big parade, yeah, masquerade, charade ♪ ♪ Big old mess I made, oh yes, I did ♪ ♪ Oh, I don't want to be anybody but me ♪ Okay, guys, you are free to break whenever. All right, you ready? You want me to count it in, Chris? Yes. All right, here we go. Three, two, one, break. Did it work? ------- air, boys. Yeah, that was a lot of fun, guys. Working with you, we're out of here. Yeah, let's do it again soon. That was a lot of fun. I gotta get down your way too sometime soon. Right on, dude, see you later. All right, see ya. Great flying with you, see ya. Yeah, likewise, man. All right. That was a hell of a day. Awesome, yes. Right at the sunset too, you guys missed out on the air-to-air shoot, like Russ's heli with a camera hanging out the side and then Tristan's overhead with the other thing and then Chris came and linked up and we did right into the moon and did a break both directions with the moon in the background. The moon is giant, there's no way that even, there's no justice, you can see it over here. Nothing's gonna do that any justice. All right, guys, well, I'm back in the cave for the night, but looking back, I feel like so much has already happened and we have a lot more planned for the next few days, but I'm scared it's gonna be too much of a video. So I think I'm gonna go ahead and close this one out here and it's a to-be-continued, but before I do wrap this out, I do wanna give a huge shout out and thank you to my friends over at Squarespace for being such a big supporter of this channel and for sponsoring this video. And for anyone that doesn't know, Squarespace is the ultimate way to build a website and run your business. You can start with one of their award-winning templates and craft it into your own, or you can harness the power of AI using their Design AI, which allows you to build a website from scratch with zero experience necessary, optimized for both desktop as well as mobile, and they have features for everything. 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