This morning I enjoyed a wonderful hike with my friend Ninon at Torrey Pines State Reserve. We walked up the hill from the parking lot. (Usually $12/day, but for locals like us, it pays to buy a “California Explorer” Annual Pass which gives access to California State Parks).
A lone Torrey Pines tree at Torrey PInes State Reserve
We spotted a “Scrub Jay” blue bird
We both admired the beautiful Pacific Ocean views from atop the cliffs
We admired several rock formations
And savored the gorgeous ocean views from atop the cliffs
We finally made it to the view of Flat Rock!
We took the beach trail and observed several wild yellow, and orange flowers blooming.
The trail led us to gorgeous majestic views of the blue-green hued Pacific Ocean. Then we took the steps down to Torrey Pines State Beach below.
Then lo and behold…all of a sudden, as we ventured down the steps to Torrey Pines State Beach, we spotted a DRONE in the sky!
Here’s a short video of the drone landing!
Which led us to meet “Droner” Jim Gleason, a freelance videographer, originally from San Diego but visiting from Austria with his wife Camille, who is a Scientist with Novartis Pharmaceuticals.
Jim told us about his drone, a DJI Phantom 2 H3-3d combo which costs approximately $1000, along with his Go-Pro (approximately $300),
plus an installed video downlink system all through Aerial Media Pros.
Jim and Camille Gleason
All in all, a fun morning hiking at Torrey Pines State Reserve and Torrey PInes State Beach!
Here’s a gallery of more photos from today!
We were enjoying a beautiful day at the Torrey Pines reserve today, in nature, away from traffic noise, boom boxes, leaf blowers and… and then the whole thing was invaded by the non-stop whining of a drone like that (not sure if it was the same operator or not.) Not only did it wreck the peaceful ambience, but the operator kept making it hover right over us. We felt like we’d been ripped from the reserve and were now in the middle of a bad sci-if movie. Our opinion? The drones should be illegal in nature preserves such as Torrey Pines.