Heading to the Nevada Desert to launch

Just midpower and maybe a baby H or two. With the California Drought, it seemed like Nevada would be a good place to just go camping and launch a few birds. I'm did a few searches on the forums though and it seems like Douglas County (where we'd be headed most likely) has supposedly banned all rockets, period. There was an ongoing thread on the forum that never seemed to get it resolved. Does anyone know for sure? If not, then I'll likely just plan on one of the numerous Reno club launches...

Douglas County seems very UNfriendly to rockets. You could get a fine for just owning a model rocket there, but memory could be off also.

Hey Sk- Don't know where you're at but we have launches at Lucern dry lake (ROC=Rocketry of California, google them) and closer to San Diego we have Holtville just outside El Centro (San Diego Tripoli). One of my buddies here (Afterburners) flies out of Rabbit Lake (just on the closer side (west) of the mountain range). You may want to check out the Las Vegas Tripoli club that launches just south of Vegas on a big dry lake- no sparky concerns at all. Coming into the furnace from hell season out in the deserts- this is pretty much our build season now, but there are still launches to be found. Don't forget our buddies in Utah and Arizona!~ Straight Smoke and Good chutes.

423yjl said:

Douglas County seems very UNfriendly to rockets. You could get a fine for just owning a model rocket there, but memory could be off also.

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That was what I read on the thread on this forum from about 3 years ago. No one seemed to have a clear-cut answer tho. Rather be safe than sorry though. Reno looks to have a pretty regular schedule for launches. https://renorocketry.com/launches/
I'll see if I can schedule some camping to align with their dates.


Thanks!

fyrwrxz said:

Hey Sk- Don't know where you're at but we have launches at Lucern dry lake (ROC=Rocketry of California, google them) and closer to San Diego we have Holtville just outside El Centro (San Diego Tripoli). One of my buddies here (Afterburners) flies out of Rabbit Lake (just on the closer side (west) of the mountain range). You may want to check out the Las Vegas Tripoli club that launches just south of Vegas on a big dry lake- no sparky concerns at all. Coming into the furnace from hell season out in the deserts- this is pretty much our build season now, but there are still launches to be found. Don't forget our buddies in Utah and Arizona!~ Straight Smoke and Good chutes.

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Thanks! And yeah, I've been building quite a few now. Getting the bug to send a bunch up! BTW, love the Plants v. Zombies avatar! BRAAAAAAIIIIINS.

Okay, I will clear this up. I live in Douglas County, and I work for Douglas County. I have spoken with the Chief of East Fork Fire and Paramedics Districts, and the chief inspector.

DOUGLAS COUNTY IS NOT AGAINST ROCKETRY.

Somebody misread County Code and posted that here. It is not true. The fire inspector in fact pointed me to a few places that people launch low power.

If you are looking to come out and launch with us, we have a couple of launch sites here in the vicinity on dry lake beds. You can check out our webpage at https://www.sierrarockets.org/.

At the Misfit Flats launch site, we have a ceiling of 7,500' AGL. At Artesia we have a ceiling of 13,000' AGL.

Swatkat: if you're thinking of coming over here, send me a message. We've got all of our launches on our calendar on the webpage. Both NAR 728 and NAR 735 are here in the area, and we launch at least one to two times every month.

Awesome and Thanks. I looked at the Reno org as well and they launch about once per month too, so a few options. We were looking at the Johnson lane OHV park, since we camp and ride ATVs there regularly. It's wide open with lots of space and no trees, but wanted to do the research first before launching there. Looks like the are other options now.

fyrwrxz said:

Hey Sk- Don't know where you're at but we have launches at Lucern dry lake (ROC=Rocketry of California, google them) and closer to San Diego we have Holtville just outside El Centro (San Diego Tripoli). One of my buddies here (Afterburners) flies out of Rabbit Lake (just on the closer side (west) of the mountain range). You may want to check out the Las Vegas Tripoli club that launches just south of Vegas. . ..

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Beautiful El Centro CA; where your rocket has to clear 39 feet just to get it above sea level.
Could be worse; you could be launching from Brawley CA where that same rocket has to boost to 113 feet to attain a sea level altitude.

As far as launching outside of Las Vegas. Odds are three to one on getting your rocket back.

Swatkat, Johnson Lane is right by my work. I'm the Operations Manager at the Minden-Tahoe Airport. Next time you're here, stop by and say hi. ☺

Will do! We were just there last week and head there about every other month or so. I've just noticed that the OHV park has no trees and lots of open space, so wanted to do some checking before launching. Looks like it was a good idea.