Cell Phones of Power

 So I am in the mood for a self-reflection type of blog entry...

It never ceases to amaze me as I get older how much people try to control others. Lessons I learned as a child through such things like the Bible, fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, etc. always emphasized that power can be a really bad thing. It has its limits and trying to control others through power is not what we should be doing. The ability to control what others do is not really up to me.

Years ago, I was shopping for some food at a chain grocery store. I got to the register to check out and the woman asked me if I had the "members card" for the store and asked if wanted to sign up for free. I said, "Oh no, that is okay." The deal was I would save a dollar or two by having the card for the store. She looked at me kind of strange and took some other person's card to give me the discount. 

While I appreciate discounts, my concern then was why do you want my personal information for some card? Are you keeping records of what I buy each week or month? That was then, this is now.

I am not a big fan of cell phones. I really do not like talking on the phone very much. I was forced to get one as a way of instant communication with my family when I was dealing with my mother's health issues.  

Now when I go to stores, my membership cards that I do have, are not as important as having some app on my cell phone. All you need to do is install an app I am told. The best discounts are now on apps. The last thing I want is my cell phone filled with these stupid apps for each store I visit.

Of course, as I have said in the past, social media apps are a big problem in this area too. All these programs are designed to keep you using your cell phone. It is all "FREE" we are told, but...they can get your personal information, keep you online for more ads, try to "influence" your thoughts and beliefs, etc. As an aside, if a new "can we be friends" person communicates with me wants my personal info or cell phone number, I consider that a bad sign, and typically a scammer. 

It feels like the whole point of "someone" out there is to create addictions in us, so we are controlled by our cell phones.

What is my solution to this? Turn it off. That is easier said than done when instant communication is needed between family and friends for many of life's events. That is the paranoia that I have when I turn everything off. What if something happens when I have it turned off and people are trying to get a hold of me. 

In The Lord of the Rings story there is the character of Gollum who we find out was once a hobbit who was corrupted by the power of the one ring. He has a love/hate relationship with it calling it his "precious".  While there are many characters we can relate to in those books, I think the character of Gollum is a lot closer to the way we humans are then we would like to admit. 

As I have always tried to emphasize on this blog. It is important to turn off the computers, cell phones, etc. and get out there in the real world. You may not have easy access to nature where you live, but at least getting out of the house is a good thing. Explore the real world even if it is the streets of the big city. Do not get sucked into thinking that what is online is the real world. It is not. 

Also, do not neglect paper books or other reading non-electric materials. I will say that reading a book or classic on an electronic tablet I own can be considered in this, but I do risk interference and distractions from the internet.  

Some level of discipline must be kept in our lives regarding this. This is why turning things off and getting out there exploring nature has been so important to me. Believe me, my feelings would not be hurt if you decided to stop reading my blog or watching my videos in order that you could get out into the real world. 

Catalina Glass Bottom Boat and the Buffalo

 To wrap this one up I wanted to go over the last two touristy things I did back on the July 4th weekend. I had never been on a glass bottom boat before. My dad always talked about it. So, I was able to do that this time around. A picture does not really cover the experience so I will link a short video at the bottom of this blog entry that is a few minutes long.

The last thing I did during the afternoon was go on one of the eco-tours they have. I had been on one before, took a lot of video and pictures, but never got around to uploading anything about it. On this tour we were taken to the Catalina Airport which I always find interesting since the runway is very small. We did see some buffalo on the way, but the best pictures I got were on the way back not too far away from the airport.

It is kind of odd seeing bison on Catalina Island. The story is pretty well known though. During the filming of a silent movie in the 1920's about twenty bison were sent to the island as part of the movie. They were kept there and reproduced to as many as five hundred over the years. These days the population is much lower. We were told on the tour they had not reproduced, partly due to birth control, for over a decade. They try to keep the population in check, and in the past have sent extra bison to the Great Plains. However, they were forced to bringing in two new females to keep the genetics and population going. 

This is the same bison from the other picture as we drove by. I was given permission to open up the side part of the eco-tour van to get this picture. One of the young ladies kind of freaked out as I did that. This was during the period that a few attacks had happened in Yellowstone. I am used to dealing with wild animals so I kind of know the distances I need to stay safe, and how quick I would need to close the door. We were completely safe, but from her perspective she probably thought we almost died, and I was reckless. Lol! This bison just moved to the right side of this picture and took off after this picture. 

So, it was a fun trip to Catalina Island. Usually after I go I kind of feel like I do not have to go back, but over time I remember certain things and enjoy one day stops on the island. One thing I should mention is due the drought they were hurting for water. At the restaurant I ate at I asked for water rather than something else, and they asked if I was okay with bottled water. I totally forgot about the situation. Normally, when I ask for water at a restaurant, I do not think much of it, but for people on the island they were suffering due to the drought.

The Glass Bottom Boat Tour (Short Youtube Video)

Inside The Casino at Catalina Island

 So in the last blog entry I showed my drone shots I took last July of The Casino at Catalina. I noted that it is primarily used as a movie theater and has a ballroom upstairs for special events. I am going to travel back ten years in time to show pictures I took inside of The Casino when I took a tour of it. At the time I had all these ideas of showing what I did on the island that day when I went, but I never did show anything on here. That is kind of the way I have been over the past ten years or so. I have taken lots of pictures and videos of things, but unless I am motivated with something I think is worth mentioning I tend to just leave it on an external hard drive, DVD, etc. Something touristy like this is rather well known too, but I am in the mood so let's go back ten years...

Here is what the inside of the theater looks like:

One of the first theaters created when silent movies became "talkies" in the late 1920's and early 1930's. I would not mind seeing a movie here, but typically my trips to Catalina last a day. I leave before the night movie is shown.

Going upstairs to the ballroom:

One thing I knew going into the tour was that an old movie, Murder on a Honeymoon (1935), had been filmed in here. A murder takes place near the end of the movie:

I was listening to what our young lady tour guide was telling us, but meanwhile I was trying to hunt down where they filmed this. 

It has been ten years, but if I remember correctly, I concluded that the murder took place in the background here. You can look at the windows and artistic signs above the windows and doorways. Some of the artistic signs might have been changed around because the area has changed a lot over the years. In the Airwolf tv series episode, Sins of the Past, from 1984 they show the ballroom as well and it looks different too. In any case, even if I am little off here you get the idea of how the ballroom would have been used for the murder in that movie.

Finally, looking up I saw this. 

In the next blog I will show the next thing I did that day at Catalina.

The Casino at Catalina (Drone Shots)

Over the July 4th weekend I was able to revisit Catalina. Over the next few blogs I will describe my adventure there. I have been to Catalina a few times over the decades of my life. Let me start this blog with my latest adventure, and then I will talk some about my past experiences.

So the first thing I did was get off the boat and head to the other side to where The Casino is at Avalon, Catalina. I got my small drone out and took off to get some pictures.

This is a rather common shot I have seen in the past while watching the weather report in Southern California over the years. I assume it was a helicopter flying by, but now people are able to this by just using a drone. 

Maybe a more unique shot of The Casino as I was just flying above it with the drone.

Then I flew it in a more northerly direction and took a picture looking more to the south at Avalon. I just spent enough time getting it up, flying it around for a few pictures, and then got back down. There were other things scheduled for the day, so this was just something meant to be done rather quickly in the morning right as I got on shore. 

The Casino is primarily used as a movie theater and for special events like weddings on the upper floor. On the day I was here they were showing The Batman movie there. In the next blog I will time travel back about ten years as I show some of what was (and I hope still is) inside of the Casino.

My brother mentioned to me that in the Airwolf tv series in the 1980's there was an episode where they blow up The Casino. The episode was called, "Sins of the Past".

Maverick's Mustang (Aka So the Summer Ends)

 So a few weeks ago I visited Planes of Fame in Chino, CA to see this plane:

This was the plane that was used in the recent Top Gun: Maverick movie in the scenes at Ridgecrest, CA that are shown at the beginning and ending of the movie. It is a P-51 variant known as the F-6K, and built near the end of WW2 for photo reconnaissance. Tom Cruise purchased it 1994, is the owner, and loaned it out temporarily for viewing at the museum.  

Another angle.

And another.

I took a few videos of it, but not sure I will upload them since I am sure there is a bunch of stuff already out there about this plane. If I do it will be at a much later time, and I will link it in this specific blog. I will link a few videos I saw of it on a simple Google search below at the end of this blog.

So, this summer was interesting and did some self-reflection on how I want to continue this blog. As I get older, I do not have the same motivations as I did fifteen to twenty years ago. I still enjoy uploading and typing about things I do, but there is a work involved. That is what wears me down in trying to get everything right and to perfection (which I never really achieve). 

The good news is I am starting to think of putting videos together again. I have a few that are close to being done that I should have up in another month or two. The videos that I am little more excited about will probably be done and shown during 2023. I am not saying I will have videos up every week, but there are a few things I was able to get done this summer that I think most people that enjoy what I have done will like.

I kind of left the last blog in a cliffhanger in what I was most concerned about: the weather conditions. Btw, I edited a short section about Mark Twain visiting Virginia Lakes in the last blog if you have an interest in that. Basically, on my main trip to the Eastern Sierra this summer a fire had already been going, but the day I drove past Bishop a new fire had started and smoke was everywhere. I was really discouraged. 

I had already started to modify my thinking on what I wanted to accomplish this summer. Fortunately, within a few days the smoke was not as bad, and it started to have dark cloud conditions every day. Eventually, it started to drizzle and rain most days. The funny thing is when I left to come home at around 2am in the morning, it rained all the way on the HWY 395 all the way home. I have never had that happen before. This was the day that I read Death Valley had a flash floods.

So, I was able to capture some footage and do somethings I wanted to do. I did visit two movie locations. One you would know very well that I revisited, and one that is completely new that I figured out. Some hiking, but not what I had hoped to do. Again, I did some self-reflection on this that I will talk more about as the months go by. As I get older I want to modify how I do things so I keep myself motivated and happy doing these things. 

Thats all for now. Check back soon.

Tom Cruise Terrifies James in 'Top Gun' Fighter Jet!

"Tom's P51 Mustang" Featurette

Virginia Lakes (The Silmaril Series)

Happy 4th of July! It has been a while so I thought I would upload some drone pictures I took last year and a one from a few years ago.

This picture was taken a few years ago in August at Virginia Lakes. It is the biggest lake: Big Virginia. I felt kind of bad that day because I suggested to my friend we come here so he could fish, and I would use my drone. He ended up not getting any fish. He was fishing on the other side of this picture at the lake in this picture. I remember we both took off for home after that, and I have not seen him since. Lol!

I came back last October to take a few more pictures of the area. So the following is Big Virginia with some fall colors:

Basically, I rotated the drone to get the following pictures:

This is Little Virginia. You have to look closely or blow up the picture, but there are a bunch of people either in small boats or "rubber tubes" (?) fishing that smaller lake.

Looking toward the east is Trumbull Lake. I believe that Trumbull Lake Campground was closed so no one was fishing there. Btw, this is the lake many think Samuel Clemens fished and camped at according to Roughing It. He says they camped and fished under Castle Peak which is now called Dunderberg Peak. I am going to go out on a limb and say he was probably familiar with all of the lakes around that I am showing. They are so close to each other I would think there is a good chance his company could have fished all of them. They are all a short walking distance from each other.

Finally, to the west is Blue Lake. Some people hike to that lake to fish it, but I usually pass it heading along the hiking trail. I showed it back in November 2009 while hiking to Mt. Excelsior.

That covers the "new" content I wanted to share. I think I would be massively repeating myself and stating the obvious that we are living in a strange time. While I have some things I have done over the past few months I will share at some point I am not as motivated to do so right now. I had to force myself to make the time to do this blog entry. 

With inflation and gas prices right now I am not as excited to take off to do things. Everything feels like a lot more work to do at this point. There are a lot of goals I had for myself to get done this year, but I am not sure that is going to happen. If the typical fires start this summer, then that will probably cancel what I have in mind. 

In any case, I cannot predict the future, and will only find out what happens when it happens. Until that point I wish my readers well.

R.I.P. Elzy Lay (AKA William E. Lay)

I hope you are having a Good Friday!  

While Covid was going on these past two years I started to spend more time going back over Old West history books I had purchased and read over ten years ago. It was around ten years ago that I "burned" out of reading those types of books. Maybe I will explain that some other time, but it basically came down to the things that I had an interest in I had already read everything there was about it.

There was one other thing I did during the last two years that influenced me too. I was playing the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 (aka RDR2). I tend not to play many video games these days other than flight simulators, but I enjoyed the first game years back and wanted to play this new one. RDR2 deals with being in a gang that does a lot of train and bank robberies. It turns out that the game was slightly influenced by Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch. I was never really into that part of the Old West history, but decided to purchase a book or two about the Wild Bunch.

I was curious to read about one of the persons connected to this was William "Elzy" Lay. This blog entry is just a very brief bio entry on this person: 

It turns out that Butch Cassidy's best friend was Elzy Lay. The more well known Sundance Kid partnership was much later. In 1889, Cassidy and Lay met up. When they were not working on cattle ranches they were robbing banks and other stickups. They ended up at the Robber's Roost in Utah, and the Hole-in-the-Wall in Wyoming which were two of the hangouts for the Wild Bunch gang. 

In 1899, Lay along with Kid Curry, Sam Ketchum and Bill Carver robbed a train near Folsom, New Mexico. While it was a success, a posse was sent that caught up to them at an area known as Turkey Creek. The posse ambushed them, and Lay was shot while filling his canteen at the creek. However, it is disputed, but in the book citied below, Jeff Burton writes that during the gun battle that followed Lay regained consciousness. He then shot Sheriff Farr with his rifle which kills Farr. Lay, Curry, and Carver got away, but Sam Ketchum was injured. While in captivity Ketchum dies of his wounds.

Lay escaped to Eddy (aka Carlsbad), New Mexico, but was eventually captured. Sentenced to life in prison he ended up serving seven years due to his helping the warden and his good behavior at the prison. 

 I found it interesting that after he got out of prison he headed toward the border of Mexico to a spot where a cache of money he knew about was hidden. He then headed to the Wyoming/Colorado border. After a time, he went with his new wife Mary Calvert to Southern California where he supervised and worked on the All American Canal system in Riverside and Imperial Valley. He died in Los Angeles.

In one of my old books that lists gravesites I found out Elzy Lay's gravesite was at Forest Lawn in Glendale. After serving a weird week of Jury Duty a few months ago, I was headed to Los Angeles, and decided to see if my grave hunting skills still were working. I got to the cemetery a little before they opened and kind of laughed to myself. "What kind of person is early to a cemetery?" That week was just weird, and I was in that kind of mood. Also, it was a foggy morning which I don't mind if I visit a cemetery; it adds to the mood. 

Anyways, the grave is on a slope, and it just a basic marker with the name on it: 

This is looking down the hill from it:

For basic info check the Wikipedia entry on Elzy Lay HERE:

For a lot more scholarly detail on the Wild Bunch Gang you need to hunt this book down:

Burton, Jeff. The Deadliest Outlaws: The Ketchum Gang and the Wild Bunch. Denton, Tex.: University of North Texas Press, 2012

Housekeeping 2022

First post of the 2022. Like I usually do I wanted to make a few housekeeping announcements for the blog as we move forward. A lot has happened since I started this blog. It does not feel like it was that long ago, but it has been about fifteen years. Back then blogs were really interesting and cutting edge, but as social media has become more prominent online blogs have take a backseat to sites like Facebook and Twitter. I do not think that is a good thing, but it is what it is. I kind of saw the direction we were heading in about ten years ago so that is one of the reasons I have cut back on how much content I have put online. Still, I do want to put content up once in a while so that is why I keep this blog up. 

Two decisions I have made:

1)No more GPS Coordinates.

Honestly, I do not take a GPS with me when I am out hiking or hunting anymore. Why will I not be posting GPS coordinates anymore? Geotagging is becoming a big issue where isolated areas you could go to ten years ago without seeing a person are now being trampled on by more and more people. I am not sure these people have the same appreciation of these areas that I thought most people had. We need to ask ourselves why are we visiting a place? Is it to enjoy nature, or to leave our trash and take mindless selfies to stay relevant on an algorithm? 

I am keeping old coordinates up, but do not ask me for coordinates in the future. If it is not on the blog, do not ask me. If I am in a good mood, I might give some general directions. Remember the point of this blog is for you to go out explore no matter where you live. Not for me to give you location instructions on a silver platter.

2)Taking a Hiatus From Videos

Okay, this might be a little disappointing. I am taking some time off from making videos. It has been quite some time since I have released a public video on my main channel. While I did take some videos this last summer and fall, I have decided to wait before I upload anything new. Some of this is me trying to use new technology, some a little bored with what I have doing, some Youtube is not as fun as it used to be, Youtube becoming an advertisement spam site on everything, Youtube trying to control what everyone says,  etc.

I will probably show some unlisted short content on here from time to time, but nothing major for the time being. This is a good thing for my sanity in the long run.

Anything Else New?

I have found two new really cool movie locations. I know exactly where they are at it is just a matter of getting to them. I am also revisiting some old spots with new technology. There are some areas I do want to "reboot".  

I said almost six months ago that it looks like issues with COVID might be coming to an end. That was me being cautiously optimistic about what people were saying. As I have said from the beginning, I am massively skeptical of everything we were and are being told about COVID. I think it will take some years looking back to figure out all the details. With that said, some areas I like to visit have been affected by all of this and continue to be. 

Finally, I am trying to get myself back into good shape right now. While I am not as motivated to do all day hiking as I used to, there are some areas I want to visit and revisit again.

A Fox on Christmas Day! (Merry Christmas 2021!)

Just checking in! I hope you are having a great holiday season! After all the nonsense and scary stuff life has thrown at me, this is one of the happiest Christmas times I have had in my life. I have a lot to be grateful for.

So one night not too long ago my brother and I heard something bigger wandering around outside at night. We are used to having squirrels, chipmunks, and Steller's jay birds outside. In this case, we could hear something during the night. Then when it snowed I saw tracks outside of a bigger animal. Originally, we thought it could be a bear, but based on the tracks it was a smaller creature. So, I baited it with some popcorn and did a stakeout that night. It took about forty-five minutes after dark for it to show up:

  It was a fox! We were really shocked about this. A fox is common in the High Sierra, but I have never seen one here before.

I did walk into two bears cubs, a mother, and two other bears about a week before this picture. They were drinking from a stream at the end of a canyon at around 7am. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera(s), and it would have been a low light situation anyways. It got kind of pathetic because two of the bears were really scared of me, but kept walking along the human trail which I had to use to continue. Then at the bridge where there is a public camping area, I had a stand off with one of the bears. He stood up and turned around on me! It would have been the perfect picture. At this point, I found a way to walk around the bear so it could be in peace. 

Have a great New Year! I will have something to say at the beginning of 2022..

The 20th Anniversary of September 11, 2001

If you are in the United States you are probably encountering something today in regards to the attacks on the World Trade Center twenty years ago. I know everyone is doing it, but I wanted to reflect a little to pay tribute to those who lives were lost in the tragedy, but also to the first responders and to the men and women in the military that served and continue to do so. I feel I do not do it enough, but nothing I have done on here could be done without those who have served in the military. By God's grace, I am a human who was born in this country at this time period. Had I been born in other places on planet or at a different time period my life would be very different. I probably would not have the type of free leisure time for blogs, pictures, and videos. 

About an hour ago I was able to watch a short motorcade that was delivering twenty-three tons of wreckage to be displayed at the Nixon Presidential Library:

It is hard to believe it was twenty years ago. Where has the time gone? Like most people around during that time I remember exactly what I was doing when I saw the news. It was kind of pathetic, but I had worked a really long day before on September 10th, 2001. I was exhausted. I did not have to be up as early the next day so I slept in an extra hour or so. I then lazily got online and saw the news. I remember just watching the news most of the day and talking to family. My martial arts instructor called letting me know classes would be cancelled that night. There was a lot of fear that, even being on the west coast, that the areas I live near could be attacked.

Life is a lot different now. In some ways I feel much safer than back then, but at the same time the recent issues with leaving Afghanistan make me worried of another potential attack. Those in charge have A LOT to answer for on that. I am reminded of a famous line Bane delivered to Batman in The Dark Knight Rises: "Peace has cost you your strength. Victory has defeated you." I do think it is important that we remain vigilant against people who hate western views of freedom and democracy.

June Lake on June 1st (The Silmaril Series)

In a blog entry a few months ago I uploaded a picture of June Lake I took in the fall. I wanted a picture of that area during the fall season. I mentioned the issue there, and in another picture off the June Lake Loop, is during the fall season the sun is a lot lower in the southern direction as it moves east to west during the day. So, you are either not getting enough sunlight or you are taking pictures into the sunlight. 

I had the opportunity to go back to this area at the beginning of June. I thought I might as well do another drone shot here:

Obviously, there was a lot more light to work with in this picture. I was there roughly the same time of the day as the shot from October.

In a different direction, let me state a few things personally and how the next few months will probably go. From where I am at, it appears that we are getting near the end of lockdowns and issues with Covid. From the beginning I have been massively skeptical of what we are being told about this pandemic. It is kind of the way I feel about global warming. I do accept these things actually exist, but the stats, faulty projections, and responses to them are what put me into skeptical mode. I do not think we will find out the full story of this pandemic for a few years. 

In any case, it does appear things are opening up again and there will be more to do. In the short term, I want to visit as many places locally as possible. Some of the things I want to do are not things that will necessarily show up on the blog, but some will. This is just for my own sanity due to the last two years of my life.  However, in the long term I want to visit a few places out of state that I am currently researching.

So I will probably not have much for the next few months on here. That is pretty typical of how I have been in the past during the summer. Usually I am out somewhere working on some project to show on here during the fall/winter/spring anyways. I do have some completed projects from last year that I have postponed as well. 

Hopefully, you, your family and friends, can get out wherever you are at and start enjoying the real world again. It really is not healthy to be stuck indoors looking at videos screens all day. Turn off the cell phones, tablets, and computers! Get out there again!

Boba Fett Fighting in the Arena (Hunting the Mandalorian Series)

 (GPS:  N34° 16.615 W118° 38.220)

Alright! The final blog entry in this series. I am finishing this one up in the same area we were at last time, but you get to see more of the directions this time. Here is a screen capture of Boba fighting in one direction:

My picture shows the big rock in the background that is slightly out of focus above to focus on Boba:

Another screen capture to compare with this time focusing on the big rock:

Now looking towards the other side:

My picture:

The above picture is a bit off if you compare them. This is the price I paid of just using my memory and not having actual pictures with me. To get this one right I would have to move to my left and it would line up better. 

The other issue I had was I was fighting the sun and wind a lot here. I had to really battle a lot of the elements here to get this right for pictures and video. I knew not everything would be exact, but good enough to show the areas and how they filmed her.

That wraps this one up. Let me give you a few tidbits about this:

1)I was actually tipped off on this one by a friend that knew I did a lot of work at Iverson Ranch and Corriganville in the past. At the time I was basically told something big would be going down at the park here, but we had no idea it would be related to Star Wars or The Mandalorian. In any case, he knew I would keep my mouth shut. 

2)I saw this episode the morning it came out. Okay! This was it. There will be hiking and filming locations for this! Let's do this! However, I knew from my times at Iverson Ranch and Corriganville it probably was not the best time to visit in December/January due to sunlight and wind issues. So, I waited a few months.

3)I wanted to be really positive about this one. I hope it came across that way. I think the writers, directors, cast, and crew did a great job here. I know a bunch of the online fan base can be rather toxic, but that is nothing new to any franchise out there. I have seen that with the fans and the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien in this past year. As the new Amazon series comes out I suspect that will get worse. With that said, I have found that I just like to stick with the things I like and not really worry about the fan base. After all when I watch a movie or read a book it is just me watching or reading. No one can take that enjoyment away. There is very little I can do with decisions companies make other than not give them my time or money if they do something I do not like.

4)There are some things I wanted to keep as mysteries for this one. The video was supposed to be an April Fools' joke connected with the blog. Yet, I wanted the video to be a bit subtle, and not "HEY EVERYONE! Look at my Star Wars video!" While I do not pay attention to everything Star Wars out there like I would have as a kid, I do see a lot click bait for views types of videos out there.

5)The director had the right idea about what he did with the Boba Fett character. I was one of those kids in the late 70's that sent away five proof of purchase seals from the figures (with postage) to get this new toy figure that would be in the new movie in 1980. I remember it took many months to get my Boba Fett toy figure, but when I did I thought it was the coolest thing! Then the character had a small key role in that movie and the next one, but we never got to see him in all his glory. So, here we are forty years later, and no matter what happens in the future the kid in me appreciates this episode.

6)Finally, an inside joke with the video. The labrador retriever seen on the pillow case during the end of the video was the family dog, "Jango". I loved that dog, but really we should have called him, "Jar Jar Binks".

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Youtube)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Bitchute)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Odysee)

The Arena (Hunting the Mandalorian Series)

  (GPS:  N34° 16.615 W118° 38.220)

In this blog we continue where I left off in the place I nicknamed the arena or amphitheater because it is an open area with rocks around it. Kind of like you could watch all the action by standing or sitting on the nearby rocks. Keep in mind these are my made up nicknames and nothing official. It just makes it easier to describe than saying, "That area." We continue with Fennec fighting off stormtroopers:

My picture:
 

All the above rocks can be seen a different angles during this part of the episode. However, something is not quite right with this next screenshot:

My picture:

This is the big picture that gives you an idea of the arena. You should be able to mentally zoom in with the screenshot to match up the pictures. The rock they are huddling next to is obviously another rock prop brought in. That rock does not really exist here. The same thing happens in the next screenshot:

That rock Boba was standing on just behind him here is another prop that was brought in. Compare to the right half of the following picture:

Fortunately, we have enough real rocks around to enjoy this area. Next time I will wrap this one up with some pictures of what they did with Boba Fett and a few tidbits of my experiences here.

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Youtube)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Bitchute)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Odysee)

Focusing on Fennec (Hunting the Mandalorian Series)

 (GPS:  N34° 16.615 W118° 38.220)

Today I am going to be focusing on the Fennec Shand character which I assume is played both by a stunt double and actress Ming-Na Wen here. From the last blog entry on the Stormtrooper Hillside Assault/Boba Fett's Golf Course location we head back up the trail about ten to fifteen minutes right before the initial confrontation area I started these blogs with. The rest of what I am going to show will be just above and behind the confrontation area.

This is part of the big stunt of the episode. Here we have Fennec running down a big rock formation as the stormtroopers are trying to blast her. 

The picture above is the rock formation. The screenshot portion is focusing on the very stop of the rock formation. So you have to mentally zoom in here to match up the rocks. An interesting thing I should point out here is right behind me is a place it looks like one can sit down at. I did not do it, but the rock is cut out enough to look like a throne or chair you could sit down on.

This screenshot shows the same rocks, but from a higher different angle. This screenshot also shows where I will be spending most of rest of this series down on the other side of the picture.

I had just been standing on those rocks. You should be able to match up the rocks here. The difference is that when they were filming the camera they used would have been much higher.

Moving over to the other side of these rocks we get to where the major action ends in the episode. I nicknamed this area, the arena or amphitheater, because it is an open area surrounded by rocks. This is where the GPS coordinates are at. Here is Fennec's jumping backwards shot:

My picture:

Not exact, but you should be able to match up a bunch of the rocks. I think I was standing on the rock they had her jump back on.

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Youtube)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Bitchute)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Odysee)

Boba Fett's Golf Course (Hunting the Mandalorian Series)

 (GPS:  N34° 16.350 W118° 38.170)

The above GPS coordinates are right next to the bush I refer to in the last blog. From there I just looked south-east. It is the same area that the stormtroopers assault the hillside. This open area I like to refer to as "Boba Fett's Golf Course".

My picture gives more of the area:

You should see that hanging rock again. It shows up quite a bit in this episode along with the other rocks. They had unarmored Boba Fett (actor Temuera Morrison) doing a lot of fighting here. I show in the video another look if you pan the camera left here.

There were some moments of this part of the episode I tried to find. I took a lot of pictures and videos wandering around all the rocks in the area. Those ended up being elusive to me. Someone will probably come along and find those spots eventually. I kind of wondered if some CGI or other rock props were used because that would have thrown me off.

Finally, I did show that wide screen shot in the video that I knew I had the right idea, but did not quite get it right. I say I could have gone higher or maybe it was an Aerial shot. My opinion now from looking at my footage and pictures is that it was an Aerial shot. I do not think you can climb higher there to get them to line up. I did want to fly my drone here, but the wind was really bad. I do not know if I will get back there anytime soon, but if the conditions are right I would try that. 

Next time we go back to an open spot very close to the confrontation location. 

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Youtube)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Bitchute)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Odysee)

The Stormtrooper Hillside Assault (Hunting the Mandalorian Series)

 (GPS:  N34° 16.350 W118° 38.170)

This location takes about ten to fifteen minutes from the trailhead. It is really the first open area that flattens out after a short climb on the trail. A good portion of the stormtrooper action takes place here. In the video I start here standing next to a bush. GPS coordinates get you to that bush. 

 In the episode they have two stormtrooper transports land near the Razor Crest. These are obviously CGI, but the landscape is real. In the following picture you can see the bush in the middle of the picture that the GPS coordinates are set next to:

 If you take a minute or two you should be able to line up the rocks in the screenshot with my photo to see where the spacecraft were supposed to be. You can see the trail on the upper left side. In the video I say something like, "the upper left hand corner." I meant, the upper left side of the ground portion. During the hiking portion of the video I stood over there and panned around.

In the above picture, if I head down below and turn to my left I would get close to where this stormtrooper was with the launcher.

 Close enough for our purposes:

 If I turn to my left from this point we see where the stormtroopers were going up the hillside:

I mention in the video that the hanging rock was my key for this one. The one that is "hanging" on the other rocks on the right side of the picture.
 

This is why I could get away with not taking pictures with me on this trip. There were certain key rocks I had in my memory. That rock has a unique look to me. Once I found that rock I knew what pictures and video needed to be taken to line everything up. 

In the next blog entry I will just move backwards from the above to show you what I nicknamed, "Boba Fett's Golf Course".

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Youtube)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Bitchute)

The Silence of Rocky Peak (Odysee)