Here is an update from a video I made 4 years ago (in this thread) in which I was testing if it made sense to film the Great American West landscape with a drone. Since then I have updated it with other video and stills from some of my other trips out there, and now it is like I want it. It is part of my own family documentary where I am following one of my relatives (John App) on the exact route he took in 1850 for the California Gold Rush.

There are places in the video where he passed by along with thousands of other emigrants… the Platte River, Courthouse and Jail Rock, and Chimney Rock in Nebraska. There are places in Wyoming… the magnificent trail ruts at Guernsey, Independence Rock where John chiseled his name in the stone, Devil’s Gate a V-shaped gorge that is 300 feet wide at the top and 30 feet wide at the bottom through which the Sweetwater River flows, and South Pass on the Continental Divide near the Wind River Mountains.

Today, Interstate 80 is a highway that closely parallels not only the California-Oregon Trail, but also the Transcontinental Railroad. Many traveling this road west by car grumble that there is not much to see, but I would say it is all in knowing where to look.

Here is the link: https://vimeo.com/420914182/bab767c802