leaving in 4 days for a 10 day trip to colorado, mostly backcountry stuff, some national forest areas and one day near rocky mountain national park. brought the air 3 and two extra batteries and just realized i should probably double check what im actually allowed to do out there. i know national parks are basically a no go for drones but national forest is different right? also carrying the batteries in my carry on obviously but the TSA thing still makes me nervous every time even though ive done it before

anyone done colorado specifically or similar trips where youre mixing park land and forest land in the same week

national forest is generally fine as long as theres no specific NOTAM or temporary flight restriction in place which you should check on the FAA app before each flight anyway. rocky mountain NP is a hard no, they actually do enforce it and the fines are not small. ive seen people get caught there and it wasnt pretty

for TSA just keep batteries loose in your bag, dont have them wrapped up weird or buried under stuff and youll be fine. ive gone through like 20 times with four or five lipos and never had more than a quick look

did a similar trip last summer, mix of arapaho national forest and some areas near estes park. forest was totally fine, got some unreal shots of the indian peaks area. just use the drone assist app or airspace guru before you fly anywhere new, saved me a couple times when i didnt realize i was near some temporary restriction

also wind in colorado above treeline is no joke, lost control briefly one afternoon and my heart basically stopped for a second before it stabilized. check your wind forecast not just at ground level