Take a Drone Tour of Western Colorado’s Mt. Garfield
Have you ever climbed to the top of Western Colorado's Mt. Garfield to see the flag? If not, that's okay. We'll save you the footwork.
Enjoy this drone's-eye-view of the flag at the summit of Mt. Garfield. The pilot at the controls of the drone would be none other than Grand Junction's Richard Crespin from the group Tim + Richard.
This footage was shot only days ago in late April 2020. If you've never been up there, are you surprised by the appearance of Mt. Garfield's top? It's surprisingly level and very green.
For those who've been around the valley for a while, chances are you have several fond memories involving Mt. Garfield. Looking at this video, if you pause at 44 seconds, you'll see a short piece off pipe sticking out of the ground at the bottom of the screen, about 1/3 of the way from the right side. That's were a group of people called "The Filthy Few" used to fire off mortars. Somewhere near that pipe is the location where a person's ashes have been buried.
While paused at 44 seconds, you'll see a dead bush in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. That's where I scattered my dog's (and former hiking companion's) ashes. Somewhere between the metal pipe and the bush I just mentioned is the place where my mom and her parents buried a handful of pennies sometime back in the early 1950s.
Kudos to anyone who can pilot a drone and get footage like this. To date, I've never flown one. I'm afraid to. In my not-so-capable hands, a drone would have a lifespan of precisely 3.2 seconds.
Much to my surprise, drones are not nearly as expensive as originally thought. After a brief search on Amazon, it seems many models come in under $100, with the higher-end stuff hovering around the $300 range. According to the notes on Richard's Youtube post, this drone, a Mavic Mini, runs about $399.
You owe yourself a hike to this location. The general rule is it takes about two hours to hike up, and about one hour to get down.
If making the hike is out of the question, we have this awesome video, courtesy of Richard Crespin, showing us the summit and the flag. The video was just posted, so please help it "makes the rounds." It's amazing how many locals have never seen the top of Mt. Garfield. If one can't make it in person, this video is the next best thing.