In this first video of the Pacifico Mountain hike in the Angeles National Forest I show an overview of the trail itself with some drone video clips and DJI Osmos clips mixed together. The trail, or rather the road, has a nice easy grade to it but is uphill the entire way to the summit. My son was able to negotiate some of the obstacles that include downed trees, landslides that presented some rock obstacles and soft sand, with his big wheel stroller.
Once at the summit, we had some cool and windy weather but clear skies and sunshine. The summit is really a campground with a vault toilet, many picnic tables, and fire rings. The views to the north are awesome and working the ham radio on vhf and uhf was easily done.
So onto the five points I want to cover:
1- parking lot is easily found and can be reached via 2 wheel drive car so long as it's open and not covered in snow. The paved road ends at the gate of 3N17 which is the trail head. From Angeles Crest Highway the turnoff is about 3.5 miles to the gate and it's a pretty big turn spot/junction to park. From the gate to the summit is about 4.16 miles.
2- As stated above, the trail (road) conditions are super good. You can ride your mountain bike if you have the power to go up the entire time and deal with some soft sand spots.
3- I forgot my HT so not 100% sure on APRS but from the info I have it should be easily achieved. Cell service on both Sprint and Verizon was excellent.
4-I was able to make VHF contacts easily without spotting so this could be activated via HT if enough people to the north would answer up. Most chasers are in the So Cal basin and that's a bit of a stretch unless you put up a wire style j-pole in the trees then you'd be able to get a signal into LA/IE/Orange County area.
5-It was hunting season when we went and there were plenty of hunters in the area. One hunter reported seeing a bear and her cub along the main trail near the parking spot. The summit has excellent views, a vault toilet, fire rings, picnic tables and would be a fun place to spend the night operating. Plenty of trees on the summit to hang wire antennas or a hammock for comfort.
Stay tuned for the radio activation video soon.
DJI Osmo Gimbal: [ Ссылка ]
DJI Mavic Pro Drone: [ Ссылка ]
