ok so this is kind of embarrassing but i was out hiking last weekend and brought my mini 3 along and flew it in what i thought was just regular national forest land. got some great footage, no issues during the flight, nobody around. but when i got home and looked it up more carefully it seems like part of where i was flying might have been within like half a mile of a designated wilderness area boundary.

i wasnt IN the wilderness area, i was near it. and i was under 400ft the whole time. i dont have part 107, just recreational. i didnt get any warnings in the DJI fly app but i know those arent always accurate for every rule. im probably overthinking this but has anyone dealt with anything similar, like is this actually a big deal or do they even enforce this stuff on random hikers with small drones

wilderness area rules are actually separate from FAA airspace stuff, its more of a land management thing through the forest service or NPS depending on where you were. being near the boundary is pretty different from being over it. i wouldnt lose sleep over a one time thing where you werent even in the restricted land. enforcement on that kind of thing is basically nonexistent unless a ranger specifically sees you and decides to make it an issue.

that said if you plan to go back and fly there again id look up the specific forest's rules because some have their own drone policies that go beyond the federal baseline and are actually stricter. some forests require you to check in or have a permit even for recreational stuff.

the dji app missing stuff is so common, i cant tell you how many times ive cross referenced it with UAV Forecast or the actual FAA map and found discrepancies. its fine for a rough check but yeah definitely not the final word on anything. for what its worth half a mile from a wilderness boundary while staying on legal land sounds like youre fine but im not a lawyer or anything lol