Peak Experience
(Click to enlarge)
Earth Day 2015
at Zion National Park

Mark D Larsen



Like last year, I was very pleased to be able to again display my Leaf at the 2015 Earth Day Celebration hosted by Zion National Park and the town of Springdale at the Bit and Spur saloon. Below of photos and commentaries of the event.

NOTE: You can click on any of the following photos to enlarge them.

I had charged to 100% the night before to have sufficient charge for the drive to Zion. Here is my LeafSTAT readout before departing, showing 79.81% capacity, 52.88 Ahr, a 91.52% state-of-charge, and 16.74 kWh in the battery pack.

I serve on the EV Task Force for the Utah Clean Cities Coalition, and was delighted that the Executive Director, Robin Erickson, hosted an informational booth at this year’s celebration.

The National Park sponsored five different educational booths for visitors this year on a variety of environmental themes, including its continuing efforts to accommodate electric vehicles.

The principal organizer of the festivities, Julie Hancock, had again arranged for me to plug my Leaf into an outlet on the side of a gallery at the far end of the parking lot, next to the same Road Runner pizza vendor as last year.

Unfortunately, that location was not the most visible for visitors strolling among the booths, so I later located a long extension cord to move my Leaf a couple of spaces farther down the line, as shown below.

While strolling the event myself, I was happy to discover that Roslynn Brain, from the Extension Center of my university in Moab, was also sponsoring an educational booth with a solar cooker.

Environmental Ranger Alex Barajas chats with attendees about the EVSEs that the Park is installing at its Visitor Centers.

Environmental Ranger Juli Rohrback has been the primer coordinator of those efforts, and had brought one of the EVSEs to display.

Here is that Clipper Creek EVSE. When EV drivers pay their $5 fee, they receive a passcode that they can enter on its keypad.

Like last year, there was live entertainment, with a sound system powered by Sterling Solar from the panels on its mobile array.

After locating the exension cord, it made perfect sense to move my Leaf to the parking spot behind Utah Clean Cities’ booth.

When I arrived home, the capacity and Ahr had risen slightly —probably due to the warmer temperature.

I really enjoy celebrating Earth Day by helping others learn more about the benefits of electric vehicles. It is one of the best decisions that individuals can make to help mitigate the damage we are inflciting on our planet with fossil fuels. Hopefully, I can make this event an annual tradition, for there is no better locale to pay homage to the earth than at our National Parks.