Originally Posted By: jmester82
According to the national forest website, you can fly UAV on national forest land as long as there's no flight restrictions due to fire or search and rescue operations in place. In fact it says the national forest service has no authority over the air space and refers users to follow FAA guidelines if they want to fly.

Here's the link and fly responsibly.

https://www.fs.fed.us/science-technology/fire/unmanned-aircraft-systems


The last paragraph on the page you linked says the following:

Quote:
The FAA provides guidance (link is external) on “Flights Over Charted U.S. Wildlife Refuges, Parks, and Forest Service Areas”. Per this guidance, federal laws prohibit certain types of flight activity and/or provide altitude restrictions over “designated Forest Service Areas.” UAS are considered to be "mechanized” equipment and cannot take off and land in designated Wilderness Areas on National Forest System lands.


Since that whole section of trail just above Whitney Portal up to the NPS boundary at Trail Crest is designated Wilderness and therefore a no-go.