Transcription
Today we are back on the Apache Trail in Arizona, one of my favorite places to go exploring with my drone. I recently mapped out multiple locations on Google Maps, showing plenty of areas of interest. In the rest of today's video, we're going to see if we can find anything peculiar hiding out in these caves, cliffs, and canyons.
Arizona is the sixth largest state in the United States, with a land area of nearly 114,000 square miles. With a state population of just over 7.4 million, you'd think people have been just about everywhere in the state. However, there are still many places in Arizona that are untouched by humans, places that the human eye has not yet seen. Those are the places that I'm looking for.
The first lookout point that we're going to is located on the Apache Trail, just before Fish Creek Hill. I'll share its location down in the description for any viewers that might want to come out here. There are bathrooms up here in case you have to pay the water bill or send aax. You can also get some good views of the canyons, and in my opinion, it's best to visit at golden hour.
I've been flying my drone into hard-to-reach places like this for about a year now, and I've made some pretty cool discoveries along the way, such as animal bones, ruins, car wrecks, and I've been surprised by wildlife on several occasions. There are times where we find absolutely nothing, but it's never a lost cause because it's always fun to come out to places like these and see how these canyons have been carved out over thousands of years.
Now, this is just the start to today's journey, and we have plenty more to see. Just as I was bringing my drone back in, I spotted something at the bottom of one of these canyons that looked a little out of place. I could by no means tell you what kind of car this is, but if you have an idea, feel free to let me know in the comments section down below. If I had to guess, just based off of all the other car wrecks that I found out here, I would say this one's probably been here since the 1930s or 1940s.
The location that we're heading out to now is one that I've partially explored in the past, but due to the surroundings, I could never get my drone in close enough for a deeper look without losing a transmission signal. Recently, I found a hiking trail that will get us out there about halfway, and the other half we're going to be doing some hiking. I didn't want to leave my e-bike sitting right off of the trail with the possibility of somebody snatching it; otherwise, it would be a long walk back, and I'd be out about $2,000.
So, I walked it off the beaten path for a little while toward the direction of the canyon that I was looking for. Once I got far enough away from the trail, I stashed it safely behind some brush and began my hike. One thing I like to do on remote hikes like this is every 3 to 5 minutes or so, just stop, do a 360, look for anything, see if I can find anything moving or anything that's following me, and just be silent and listen. Silence is kind of a good thing, but at the same time, it's also kind of creepy.
Look at that, nothing but endless desert. The area that we're going to is up on the other side of this little hill here, and then about maybe another quarter of a mile. I can kind of see the opening just barely where I'm going to send my drone down into.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, we have officially made it to what I'm calling Cliff Dwelling Canyon. There's a small set of ruins down there that I found completely by accident about a year ago. If you were flying your drone from up above or looking for this place on Google Earth, you wouldn't even find the ruins; you couldn't even tell because everything is overgrown, and there's a lot of brush down there.
But once we get the drone down in there and get close, you'll see some things that don't look naturally made. So, we're going to scope out as much of this canyon as we can. I had to be extremely careful with my drone at this point. It does have collision sensors, but they're not perfect, and they don't always recognize small branches and leaves hanging off of trees.
I tried to get as close as I could without crashing, but beyond where my drone is now, I didn't want to push it any further. Thankfully, the DJI Mini 4 Pro is a very stable drone, and I couldn't help but wonder what might be in here. I didn't see any shoe prints or any evidence of recent human activity in the area, but this was about as close as I could get with my drone.
Now, I'm more tempted than ever to come back out here and hike to this location. I did find a couple of other parts in this canyon that looked like they could have been used for shelter by the natives many years ago. The reason I find this stuff so fascinating is because there's an area about 40 miles northeast of here filled with many deep canyons just like the one we're exploring right now, and they are filled with multiple cliff dwellings built by the Salado people between the years of 1280 and 1350.
It wouldn't surprise me if what we stumbled upon today was built by the same people. Now, being that I could only explore what's on the surface with my drone, it makes me wonder what else is lying underneath all these trees that we can't see and what else might be buried out here from all the debris and loose rock from all the heavy rains that we get from time to time.
Well, I don't know about you guys, but sending the drone down in there was pretty cool. What we're going to do is take these little pieces of cacti off me, walk back to where my e-bike is, and hopefully, no one stole it. I don't think anyone would because unless you were actively following me or watched me stash it, there's no other way anyone would have been able to see me put it there.
Then we're going to make it back to the Apache Trail, and we're going to go explore another canyon that's been on my to-do list for the longest time now. The hike back was pretty smooth, and even though I had already made it to my destination, you never want to let your guard down while you're out here.
A lot of what I was walking on is loose rock, and it only takes one slip to fall in the wrong direction or on a cactus. For a couple of seconds, I had a little trouble remembering where exactly I left my bike, and it's the desert, so everything looks the same. But after a few minutes of retracing my steps and with a little help from my drone, I finally found it.
Here's a fine example of how imperfect the collision sensors are on the DJI Mini 4 Pro. Once I got back on my bike, I figured I could ride through this rough terrain all the way back to the trail, as long as I don't run into any cacti. Seems easy enough, but they were everywhere.
Everything was going fine and dandy until my drone came face to face with a certain plant. I'm not sure what it was called, but the collision sensors did not pick it up, and this is what happened next. Luckily for me, it wasn't that severe of a crash, and after replacing the propellers and getting all the tiny rocks out of the motors, we were back in action.
A question that I often get from new viewers on this channel is, "How is your drone able to follow you so smoothly?" Well, first of all, I do not have somebody else flying it for me. The DJI Mini 4 Pro has a feature on it called Active Track, which allows you to scan the subject that you want it to follow. Once it recognizes the subject, it will stay locked onto it wherever it goes, whether it's your car, riding a bike, or simply walking.
I'll link that drone down in the description in case you guys want to check it out. As you can see, the drone does a pretty good job of keeping up while keeping me centered in the shot. It's also doing its very best to scan the area ahead and keep a distance from any potential obstacles.
I'd say we'd probably gone at least a couple of miles so far. We came to this gate, which isn't private property; it just says this gate should remain closed. I don't want to go too much further than this, so I'm going to end up flying my drone around the area here. I mean, I'm not in danger; I'm strapped pretty good. I have a lot of food and a lot of water, but I don't want to go too far for my own good just in case something happens.
I think we'll find some pretty cool things out in this area. If not, there is plenty of desert to explore. Every time I head out into the desert with my drone, I'm always hoping for the chance that I'll make a pretty cool discovery, whether it be an artifact, a dead body—hopefully not—or even ruins from old cliff dwellings.
As I stated before, not too far away from here, there are cliff dwellings made by the Salado people dating back 700 years ago. Perhaps one of the most famous cliff dwellings in Arizona is Tonto National Monument, which sits high up on the cliffside and is one of the most well-preserved in the entire state. Not too far away from this site is another set of cliff dwellings that I explored with my drone.
Like Tonto National Monument, these ones were also high up on a cliffside and near a water source. Some of the literature that I've read about the Salado people mentions that it was a wetter climate back in those days, and as the drought got worse and the conditions became more arid, they decided to move on and look for a new place to call home.
Now, before I get too ahead of myself, the word Salado comes from the Spanish name Rio Salado, or the Salt River, and the Salt River isn't too far away from us. The term Salado represents a group of people from a variety of different cultures that settled in an area just northeast from where we are today.
Ever since I started learning more about this subject, it's inspired me to bring my drone with me anytime I come out to these parts and get my eyes into places that people normally couldn't make it to or what would take people days or even weeks to explore on foot. It's one of the many benefits of having a drone, and of course, there's always a chance of finding the Lost Dutchman's Gold, but that's a story for another day.
Throughout this entire video, if you happen to see any strange objects, rock formations, or anything of interest that I may have missed while scanning the desert from above, feel free to let me know in the comment section. The bike that I've been riding throughout today's video is the Trek Marlin 6 Plus, and it's the only e-bike that I've ever owned. It does retail for around $2,700, but it's worth every penny.
It's a great bike for casually riding around town or taking onto the rougher terrain like you see in the video. It has a 400-watt hour Bosch motor, and with its beefy tires and aluminum frame, it makes for a smooth ride. Unfortunately, I do not have a discount code for you guys, but if you want to learn a little bit more about it, I'll post a link down in the description for you.
Yep, she ain't going anywhere. Aside from being one hell of a place to go exploring with a drone, the Apache Trail is one of the top scenic drives in Arizona. The section of road that you see me on here is only a small part of it; it's roughly 40 miles long, and the majority of it is unpaved.
You'll find people out here doing everything from camping, hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, and stopping in at one of the many tourist attractions. If you want to see a more detailed review on the history of the Apache Trail and some of the car wrecks that I discovered, I'll be sure to link that video down in the description.
As I was on my way to a different location, I spotted some animals running across the desert in the distance, so I pulled over as quickly as I could, hoping to get some shots of them. But by the time I parked and got out, they were gone. So, I decided to land my drone to switch out batteries, and this is what happened next.
Ouch, ouch! All right, first thing we do is assess the damage. This sucks. Plenty of propellers and a little screwdriver here to get the job done. That, my friends, was the first time in the 5 years that I've owned DJI drones that I've ever failed at catching my drone. It hurt like a mother, but after replacing a couple of broken propellers and making sure all the dirt was blown out of the motors and that there was no damage to the gimbal, I recalibrated my drone, and I was able to get it back up in the air with no issues.
It was getting to be pretty late in the day, but I wasn't finished just yet. There was another canyon that I've had on my radar for quite some time, but I knew by the time I got there, there wouldn't be enough sunlight left to light it up. So, I took my chances and found another one not so far away, and here's what I found.
If you know where to look, you can find dozens of car wrecks along the Apache Trail. Some are easier to spot than others, but wherever you see a sharp turn with a steep drop-off, you can safely assume there's probably a car at the bottom of it. I would bet anything that the owner probably didn't have insurance. You can also find bodies and blue barrels out here too—I'm just kidding, at least I hope so.
Part of me wants to go back and see what's in that blue barrel, while the other part of me wants to say thank you for checking out this week's video. If you want to keep the adventures going, be sure to click the next video.