For those of you unfamiliar with the San Rafael Swell in Central / Eastern Utah, it's one of the more amazing places for backcountry flying. Mexican Mountain is not only one of my favorite places to hike (love the Upper and Lower Black Boxes), but it's really fun to fly to the airstrip there. But we kept hearing that Hidden Splendor was also pretty awesome, especially for the approach, so we packed up our camera and video equipment and headed out. And this 'mini documentary' video we put together on the airstrip was the result:

https://disciplesofflight.com/hidden-sp ... rip-video/

I'd been to the area before for hiking (the chute of Muddy Creek, Ramp and Cistern Canyons, and Quandary Canyon) and had seen the airstrip, but it's something else entirely to land there. Such an incredible and beautiful location.

Got some great photos while we were down there too, like this one:



Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the video.

Awesome video! Very cool info & video

Well done Steve and Jim. Thanks for a fun and informative video and for all you do with UBCP Association to protect those "National Treasure" airports. Makes me want to fly there again with Lanny!

I'd love to see the from-the-cockpit view of the entire takeoff and departure until you're clear of the canyon.

A friend and I stopped in there in my 180 on the way to OSH last year. On takeoff, we had a 6-8 kt crosswind that was slightly favoring a departure toward the canyon, but I wasn't convinced we could negotiate the last canyon turn if our climb wasn't enough to clear the canyon walls.

We took off to the NW (away from the canyon), but with a slight quartering tailwind. Got off fine, but our margins were a bit tighter than I would have liked. I always wondered if we should have taken the headwind, but towards the canyon.

That is an outstanding video. Well done.
Sets the bar kind of high for the rest of us.
Please keep them coming.
You can see the canyon approach and departure on this video.
Not in the same league but you get the idea of how tight it is in and out.

X2...nicely done. Did that opening shot above the airplane come from a quadcopter? Really neat!

My grandmothers brother was a big wheel mine promoter in the uranium country. Made a ton of money. His wife bought him a brand new Piper Comanche as a birthday present sometime in the early 60's. It is neat to hear the history of Hidden Splendor and think back to the old timers.

Thanks for sharing!

And ... the 180 degree departure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z334OEEb7TQ

Very well done video. Nice work.

Thread about Hidden Splendor got me off my rear post a couple of videos I have had since May.

Went into HS and forgot to turn camera on inbound but got this on the departure:



A couple of days later we were in the area so I figured I would video the approach, and some of the area beyond. Forgive the lame editing.



TD

Clark wrote:https://disciplesofflight.com/hidden-splendor-airstrip-video/

Top shelf video and Steve and Jim are 2 top shelf pilots in our community.. Keep them coming

We have talked here before about that small side canyon that has a lot of shade and a water pool at the end. I believe you can see this in the video between the 8:19-8:23 mark. Looks like there would be a nice waterfall there too in a rainstorm. My hippy-dippy hiker friends say this is a great place to get out of the sun and cool off in Natures' tub in the warm weather but I still haven't been to it. I have ridden motorcycles thru the gorge there when it was legal and at other times and must have breezed past it.

Another bit of history not discussed in the video: Vernon Pick-

"Vernon Pick, a middle-aged electrician from Minnesota, discovered the Delta Mine (Hidden Splendor) northwest of Hanksville in 1952. Vernon Pick reaped one million dollars from the mine before he sold it two years later to international financier- Floyd Odlum's Atlas Corporation for $9 million and a custom-converted PBY airplane. In November 1954 Life Magazine published an 11-page article titled "Vernon Pick's $10 million Ordeal" that detailed the discovery of the Delta Mine. Publicity from this article greatly increased prospecting in the San Rafael Swell and surrounding Colorado Plateau and made the Delta Mine famous.

Floyd Odlum renamed his new purchase the Hidden Splendor Mine. Odlum was certain the mine was a rich find and his geologists estimated the mine held 540,000 tons of uranium ore with an in-place value of forty dollars per ton. This would have made the mine worth nearly 22 million dollars.

However, the Atlas Corporation only extracted 90,000 tons of ore from the mine before abandoning it in 1957. Local wags then dubbed the mine "Odlum's Hidden Blunder". After Atlas Corporation left several others tried unsuccessfully to extract ore. The Uranus Corporation took over the mine for a short time in cooperation with Central Oil. The Hidden Splendor Mine closed in 1957 and was eventually sold for taxes."

Man, $9 million dollars is huge but it must have been enormous in the early 50's. Great stuff to learn about in the San Rafael Swell.

Oops double post.

Kinda like the "Flying B" just different color terrain.