drove like 3 hours to get to zion national park last weekend specifically because ive been planning these shots for months. i knew drones were restricted in the park itself but did a ton of research and found what looked like a legal launch point just outside the boundary. ranger at the entrance gate saw the case in my back seat and literally told me i couldnt bring it in at all, even to hike without flying it. which i dont think is actually the rule but i wasnt going to argue with a ranger at 7am.

ended up just turning around and finding a spot about 12 miles back on BLM land which actually turned out pretty decent but man the whole thing was frustrating. i had the FAA authorization printed out and everything. anyone else run into this kind of thing where the people enforcing the rules dont really know what the actual rules are

yeah this happens constantly at national parks. the rangers are not always trained on the specifics and some of them just have a blanket no drones policy in their head regardless of where youre launching from. ive heard of people getting hassled even on clearly designated BLM land adjacent to park boundaries. not much you can do in the moment without making things worse honestly.

the BLM land workaround is usually the move though and sounds like it worked out ok for you. zion from the outside still looks incredible, especially early morning light on those red cliffs

ugh that sounds so annoying. i always screenshot the actual regulation text and have it ready on my phone but even then some rangers just dont want to deal with it. glad the blm spot worked out at least, did you get anything usable from there?