LA, now that's a serious backcountry landscape Actually the island portion of the clip is pretty amazing. Is that Catalina, or further north in the Channel Islands?

Flyhound wrote:LA, now that's a serious backcountry landscape Actually the island portion of the clip is pretty amazing. Is that Catalina, or further north in the Channel Islands?

The Channel Islands are some of the most fiercely guarded sanctuaries I know off. Which is pretty cool. Very much a haven to hike, camp, scuba dive and surf.

The video above is entirely Catalina Island: Avalon, Ironbound Cove, Two Harbors (backside), Shark Harbor, Benweston Beach and Silver Canyon.

The helicopter departing is from Robinson Helicopters at KTOA. Who always welcomes me and all my questions. Very nice folks.

Thank you for watching!

Here is an Island that is not so protected from developers...

Catalina Island is the absolute nicest part of LA County.

Aryana wrote:Catalina Island is the absolute nicest part of LA County.

I totally agree, really miss the Island and the really kind folks who let me live there.

If folks followed my Oregon to SoCal thread we know...This month April, 2021 flew to the Catalina airport and hitched a ride with the director of Toyon down the rough roads to the ocean.

Below photographs using a Sony A3. Finally uploaded a few pictures from the camera...



The guy in the tower knows me and offered not to charge me the landing fee! His son fuels me at the Torrance FBO. I paid anyway!



Toyon Bay from the top of Swain’s Canyon:



This boathouse is where I learned to build kayaks and paddles:



The old CIS headmaster was a retired Navy UDT diver (Now called SEAL Divers). He invited us to Kayak (2) miles every school day morning, in the open ocean. Good times.



This reminds me of the many nights I spent in my sailboat:



The Wrigley Hangar:



Buffalo left during the Hollywood Western era. Now protected. Toyon had a permit to shoot two a year. Good eating. Also had access to the wild boar population during certain times.



Transportation to town and the mainland. Now the boats sit because of COVID-19.



Thank you for reading the thread! Aloha!

LA, now that's a serious backcountry landscape

It actually is. Not for flying of course but the San Gabriel Mountains ( Mt San Jacinto ) or Mt Baldy as it’s called are over 10K
Believe it or not if your willing to work for it you can score blower powder runs on skis or snowboard in the backcountry
And if it’s after a front has moved through you can see downtown L A
L A county is one hell of a diverse place .
Both in population and in geography

Something invigorating about leaving the LA basin low level in a helicopter, kinda like the closing scene in Blade Runner. Done it once or twice myself, but never in something as much fun as an R44.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Tb1jUxi6-ek?feature=share

Karmutzen wrote:Something invigorating about leaving the LA basin low level in a helicopter, kinda like the closing scene in Blade Runner. Done it once or twice myself, but never in something as much fun as an R44.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Tb1jUxi6-ek?feature=share

Very nice. What kind of ship?

Super Puma, AS332L1.