One man took the snowshoes out of the barn…
One man put them on the backseat of my truck…
One man drove for a couple hours through snow-covered landscapes…

…then, decided he didn’t need the snowshoes and left them in the truck and hit the trail.

I am one of these men.

Overall this was a fun trip. Just a quick overnighter to get out into the woods and recharge the batteries a bit. Temps overnight dropped into the mid 20’s – this isn’t as cold as I wanted it to be but it was still a good “gear proving” night. I managed to record the entire camp setup which I’ve been trying to do for a while now.

Mrs. Goat and I are going back this coming weekend now that the snow is gone and the temps have warmed up a bit. It’ll be a neat contrast to visit the area within a couple weeks and have the environment be completely different.

Happy Trails,
FG

The post Should’ve Brought the Snowshoes | Winter Hammock Camping in Northern Maine appeared first on FatherGoat.

Ever since Mrs. Goat was a little girl she’s always wanted to swim with sharks. Anyone who knows Mrs. Goat can unquestionably confirm this to be true.

We’ve talked about making the trip many times over the years but somehow life always got in the way. This year we decided we were simply going to make it happen.

We set out on a Saturday morning to catch a bus to the airport. What should have been a 2 hour drive became a 4 hour drive due to white out conditions from an impending snow storm. When we arrived at the bus station and walked into the terminal we were greeted by the final boarding call for our bus – we had just made it.

We got to the airport to find out our flight had been delayed due to the snow so we ended up landing in Orlando and getting to our room at about 1 am. We woke up early the following morning to make the ~2 hour drive to the marina to meet Captain Bryce and Bart of Florida Shark Diving.

It was quite the contrast going from blizzard conditions to tropical conditions overnight. However, the crew was great, the sun was hot, and the sharks were out.

Personally, I didn’t possess the desire to swim with sharks. It’s seems quite counter intuitive to my desire to carry on with life and all my limbs. Nevertheless, I did hop in the water with Mrs. Goat and float around with the sharks. It was an incredibly experience and though I’m not sure I’d do it again, I couldn’t be happier that we were able to share this together.

We got to mark an item off of our (her) bucket list. This was a meaningful trip for a number of reasons, but most importantly, she got to high five the little girl that’s always wanted to swim with sharks.

Whether it’s swimming with some of the worlds deadliest predators or hiking through the woods to climb a mountain, we’d like to sincerely wish you all happy trails.

Mr. and Mrs. Goat.

The post Working the Bucket List | Swimming with Sharks appeared first on FatherGoat.

We were lucky enough to watch the launch from the Saturn V building at KSC. The launch was initially scheduled for Saturday the 18th but was scrubbed at T-13 by Elon Musk himself. Luckily, we were in the area for a couple more days so we scored some tickets for launch attempt #2 on Sunday the 19th.

It was a fairly overcast day and a small rain cloud moved over the Saturn V building to the launch pad. With only about 30 minutes to lift off it looked like they were going to scrub a second launch but luck was on our side and the Falcon 9 delivered the Dragon capsule to orbit for the ISS.

This video isn’t the best video of the launch itself per se (high quality official SpaceX footage linked in the video description). However, this does give a sense of what it’s like to attend the launch. It was incredible! If you’re ever given an opportunity to see a launch I can’t recommend it enough.

Happy Trails,
FG

The post SpaceX CRS-10 Falcon 9 Launch! appeared first on FatherGoat.

Last summer Mrs. Goat got me a Phantom 4 as an early Christmas present. She wanted me to have the time to learn to fly it before winter set in.

The first subject that I really tried to capture was Houston Brook Falls. I honestly wasn’t a confident pilot nor was I a confident aerial videographer. As I had never shot and edited any aerial video I didn’t know what my actions while in flight would look like on film.

A got a few good flights in with the Phantom and really started to learn the craft. The one major issue I had with the Phantom was the bulk of the kit. Here is a picture of the Phantom and controller in the case that ships with the device. (Check out the phone for a scale reference.)

The bulk of the system made it difficult getting it into the backcountry. It wasn’t an insurmountable obstacle but it made the affair less fun and much more tedious.

Not long after we purchased the Phantom, DJI announced a new flying camera called the Mavic. This was their uber small and uber portable flying camera. The same day as the press release for the Mavic we sold the Phantom in anticipation of picking up a Mavic. See the size of the Mavic below. Not only is is very small, but, the arms fold down on itself making it incredibly compact for hoofin’ through the forest.

However, the Mavic was plagued by long delays and it was a few months before we were able to pick one up.

It seemed fitting that the first proper video with the Mavic was at Houston Brook Falls.

It was a gorgeous Saturday afternoon with Mrs. Goat and Kid Goat. It was the first flight of the Mavic and the first time this winter we’d all gotten out on the snowshoes. We even managed to take Dog Goat (Billy, our dog) out for the day for some tromping through the woods. All in all we had a great time and we really hope you enjoy the video.

FatherGoat

The post MEFALLS #4 | Frozen Brook Falls | DJI Mavic Pro appeared first on FatherGoat.

This was also my first time hiking up a mountain via ski trails. I won’t say I prefer ski trails over regular trails but it was a nice change. If I had the choice between the two I think I’d stick with regular trails.

Ski trails are nice as you can see exactly where you are going and there is a large swath cut out of the mountain showing you the way. Since you’re not in tree cover there’s generally some pretty spectacular views to be had while climbing.

However, there is no respite from the constant elevation grade. This is brutal on the ankles and calves on the way up and equally as brutal on the knees and toes on the way down. Regular trails aren’t always easy on the joints, but hiking a regular trail is more akin to climbing a very long staircase whereas climbing up ski trails is more akin to walking up a very steep (and long) street. The two work the legs differently.

This trip was a lot of fun and as much as I complain about the grade it wasn’t all that bad. This would actually be a great way to introduce new hikers to hiking a proper mountain with 360 views from the summit.

Speaking of 360 views from the summit, we’ve got another this time around. I took one from both Saddleback and The Horn but the Saddleback photo set didn’t stitch right and we’ve got a multi-dimension plane of existence thing going on.

Happy Trails,
FatherGoat

The post Maine 4K’s | Saddleback & The Horn | Windy, Cold, and Beautiful appeared first on FatherGoat.

These are the days that we live for.

The weather was warm.
The autumn colors were warmer.
We were in Acadia National Park.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to ascend the Beehive trail. The loop was only about 2 miles long but it goes straight up over the cliff face which requires some iron rung climbing and some steady feet. CrafyCari and Zombie girl were along for the ride.

Crafty was pretty miserable when we told her we were going hiking. This is the usual routine: she get’s all upset and pouty the night before and the morning of a hike. Once we actually get on the trail however she finds her optimism and has a great time. This trip was a little different however. This time she was ecstatic when she found out we had to really climb and not just walk in the woods. After every bend and every ledge we climbed up I had all I could do to keep her from running around the corner trying to find the next bunch of bars we would get to climb. It was a happy and proud moment for this guy.

Also, I’ve started taking some street view photos from the summits of places I/we hike. This is the first one that is getting published. It’s pretty neat and with any luck I’ve figured out how to embed it below (or maybe above, I don’t really know where it’s going to end up).

Acadia National Park is an amazing place to visit. If you ever find yourself with an opportunity to visit don’t pass on it lightly. In the fall, however, it’s downright magical.

Happy Trails,
FatherGoat

The post Beehive | Acadia National Park | Autumn in Maine appeared first on FatherGoat.

This was filmed last year… yeah, I’m a little behind.

Anyway, this was filmed on a cool October morning. Foliage was at it’s peak in the valleys and winter was just beginning up in the mountains. This created such a cool contrast for the entire day. Looking ahead at the trail and everything had a dusting of snow and frost. Turning around to look into the valley was just the opposite – full of the warm colors of fall.

This loop came in at just about 12 miles overall. We managed to get 3 more 4K peaks bagged: Crocker, South Crocker, and Redington. The Crockers are accessible along the Appalachian trail and Redington is accessed via a couple mile bushwhack from Crocker. I’d never been on a bushwhack hike before this and it was a ton of fun. I felt just like a boy playing in the woods again.

Check out the video and you’ll see what I mean.

Also, check out this elevation profile. I just figured out how to extract this from the GPS tracks I get out of the InReach.

Happy Trails,
FatherGoat

The post Maine 4K’s | Redington & The Crockers | Autumn to Winter and Back Bushwhack Hike appeared first on FatherGoat.

The hike itself is tough but the views are equally rewarding.

There isn’t a ton to add to this one outside of what you see in the video. SpAcEkAcE made a full recovery after spending a few days resting his leg. Bunny Foo managed to stop hopping and I am very much looking forward to the next trip.

Both my phone and my Delorme failed to record any actualy GPS tracks so I plotted the hike out on Google Maps and added that to this post. This is a very well worn trail and Google maps has the bulk of it already as it mostly follows the AT. The only deviation from the AT is the spur trail to the peak of Sugarloaf. This is very clearly marked at the junction listed on the map.

This is some old footage. This was actually recorded last year. I’ve been terribly backed up on video editing but I’m making it a point to get through some of this backlog (as you may be able to tell by the pace of recent uploads). I’m still working through a few from last year which I hope to get posted in the near future. I’d like to have a total of 25 videos uploaded by the end of the year. That means I’ll need to edit and upload 11 additional videos. No problem, right?

Happy Trails,
FatherGoat

The post Maine 4K’s | Sugarloaf & Spaulding Mountains | Night Hiking & Injured Hiker appeared first on FatherGoat.

Bam!

I feel like it’s starting to come together a bit better. I’m very happy with the way this video turned out.

Although, there were two near-crashes that got my heart pounding…

During the opening shot I lost eye contact with the Phantom once it got up near the top of the falls. I’ve got the contrast, brightness, and saturation on the camera turned down a few notches while filming so I can adjust all of that in post. However, this causes very low contrast on the phone screen while flying so smaller obstacles can easily blend in with the background. Once I reached the top of the falls I met just such a branch. I didn’t see it until the obstacle sensors went off but at that point, it was too late. I saw the branch hit the camera and the altitude begin to drop. In the time it took my heart rate to jump to 9000 the Phantom recovered and maintained altitude. After this little accident I turned around and flew back to the bridge where we were standing. It is because of this small branch that I didn’t get the single shot all the way from the base of the falls to the top of the falls. Even though my pulse rate had recovered my hands weren’t exactly steady at this point.

The second near miss came towards the end of the day. The shot is the fast and low approach to the falls that you see just before the cliff jumper. I had a small audience standing with me on the bridge and I suppose I was trying to show off. I sped into the gorge and up the waterfall as you see in the video, then I flew backwards towards the bridge at full speed. I thought I’d timed it right to stop before hitting the small trees on the side of the main pool but I did not. The Phantom clipped a few branches and shredded a few leaves. Luckily I recovered quickly and got it out of trouble but not before the shredded leaves painted the Phantom a nice hue of green.

Aside from these two mishaps it was a great day all the way around. When I was a boy my father took us all to Smalls Falls every summer, and now that I’ve got a family of my own, I’m doing the same. We lucked out to get such a sunny day – the water at Smalls Falls is 2 degrees from being ice. It’s so cold that it takes the breath out of you the first time you jump in. Regardless, spending a hot summer day cliff jumping and swimming among waterfalls is hard to beat.

Happy trails,
FatherGoat

The post MEFALLS #3 | Smalls Falls | Phantom 4 appeared first on FatherGoat.

We’re still in a bit of a drought here in Maine so the volume of water coming over the falls is much less than we’d see in a normal year. The same is true of Houston Brook Falls I posted last week. I’ll take this as an opportunity though – I’ll return to all these falls when water levels return and we’ll have an interesting comparison to make.

I didn’t like some of the flickering in the HBF video so I switched the camera on the Phantom over to manual and messed with the settings myself. I’m mostly pleased with the way things came out.

I filmed in D-Log color with an ISO of 400 and a shutter speed of 60. There wasn’t a lot of color information to begin with as there was little sunlight and we were in a narrow gorge (not the most colorful place around).

I turned the shutter speed down as I’d seen some videos where people claim that it gives a more cinematic look and I wanted to give it a whirl. Well, I’m not pleased. Turning the shutter speed down introduces natural motion blur as the shutter is open for longer periods of time. You also lose some detail in the image if there is any movement while the shutter is open. I prefer a much sharper image than what we got in this video. I would really like a hyper-real image when shooting the falls.

It’s all a matter of preference and this is mine. We’re headed out again on Labor Day to another large set of falls to capture some more footage. I’ll crank that shutter speed back up and see if I can’t get a better detailed image this time ’round. Also, the ND filters for the Phantom came in which gives me one more variable with which to work.

Happy Trails,
FatherGoat

The post MEFALLS #2 | Mosher Hill Falls | Phantom 4 appeared first on FatherGoat.