Great Pumpkin,
First off, thanks for the suggestions.
Yeah, definitely too many trees in Monrovia Mountain Park, especially for a Noob like me. :lol:
I think Santa Fe Dam recreation area is too closely regulated and monitored as it's a fee-based site and part of the L.A. County Dept. of Parks and Recreation. You even need to get a special permit to do any filming and, even though it's not a lot different than making home movies, shooting video from my Phantom without a permit could be construed as a violation. I'd rather not take a chance, although it would be a nice spot to get some cool high altitude (400' or under, of course) shots from.
I could probably get away with flying up in Azusa Canyon or from Glendora Mountain Road though. However, if I ran into any problems that required an early landing offroad, retrieving the bird could be very difficult as it's quite rugged up there.
As I'm very new to this I'd like to find some large, flat open areas that are forgiving of mistakes. Once I develop some flying skill and confidence I would probably be willing to tackle some of the riskier areas.
My other concern regarding any of the canyon areas is the possibility of causing a fire with a hard crash and shorted electrical components. I know it's a very slim chance that it would happen, but I still wouldn't want to have something like that on my conscience, let alone the legal ramifications. It sometimes makes me wish I lived in the Midwest with all the wide open farm land in the spring and summer and snow in the winter.
Gary