Beauty of the Rockies

One of the only cool things about living in Utah is that I can escape up into the mountains whenever I want to. Over the weekend, my wife and I did just that. We took our daughter and drove up into the American Fork Canyon to the famous Alpine Loop Scenic Byway.

The Alpine Loop Scenic Byway is a 20 mile stretch of windy canyon roads with amazing views of Mt Timpanogos and the other mountains in the area. On this occasion we didn't travel the whole 20 miles, but instead parked at the summit and got out on the trailhead to fly my drone for a while and get some shots from about 8,000 feet.

The drive is one of the most beautiful in the state during the fall because of the aspen trees and their bright yellow leaves. The mouth of the canyon can get backed up for hours as people wait to enter.

^{Image Source}

I have yet to do a photo shoot up in the Aspen Grove, but I am going to do one this year during the fall. It is one of the go to spots for many photographers out here because the colors are amazing during the fall.

So while I was flying my drone, I was trying to find some cool spots that I might be able to do a photo shoot one day. The spot where I had launched from had a huge open area that looked like it could be a good spot for photos, but the bad part is that I am sure all the other photographers have already thought the same thing as well because the landscape background is amazing in this area. I may have to get there early and pee everywhere to mark my territory.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

One thing I like with drone photography is when people do the top down shots on things. When people do shots of forests, like the one above, they are pretty cool. The one I did, not so much. Maybe if there were some snow or something, or the lighting wasn't so harsh, it would look a little better, but I am not super thrilled about the way it turned out.

One of the cool features about my drone is that whenever I take a picture on it, it stores the GPS data of where the picture is taken, and when I import those images into Lightroom, all of the images are plotted on a map.

I spent the majority of the flight time taking video, that I may or may not end up editing and posting one day, so there are just a few images that I took in the area. I got about 1 kilometer away with my drone before I started to get nervous about the signal, so I didn't want to go much further than that.

The area up this canyon is beautiful. A few years ago I was hiking up there in early October and a quick snowstorm rolled in out of nowhere. It was pretty awesome to be up in all of the trees and watch the snow falling and all you hear is just the soft sound of snowfall.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

Once my battery started to get low on my drone, I started to bring it in. I can't wait to go take this ride again with my family once the leaves start changing. I am going to have to put my GoPro on my car and record the ride and put it to music or something and upload it so everyone can see how amazing this area gets during the fall.

^{Photo taken by me @derangedvisions}

So if you are ever in Utah and are looking for nice scenic drives, make sure to check out the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway up American Fork Canyon. You won't be disappointed, you might get a bit nervous driving on tight canyon roads though if you aren't used to it, but at the same time that is all part of the experience.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my post. You are awesome!