Day Trip to Red Cliffs in my Nissan Leaf September 17, 2013 Mark D Larsen

Between a rock and a sweet spot (Click to enlarge)

After several weeks of monsoon cloudbursts and flash floods, It was refreshing to see the weather turn fair again for the last few days. The blue skies whet my appetite for another day trip in my Leaf, this time to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area.

Although I knew that the Red Cliffs were only about 25 miles away, I was unsure if the roadway and conditions would deplete my battery faster than normal, so I charged to 100% just in case. You can see below on the left the readout when we started the car. In ECO mode, with climate control on, temperature at 89°F, and given my driving efficiency earlier in the week, the GOM predicted 84 miles of range.

Next to the readout is a map of the route. I marked a couple of the spots where we took some of the subsequent photos along the way. We stopped at Quail Creek Reservoir (mentioned in the previous day trip to Sand Hollow), and also in the small village of Harrisburg where there are ruins of several old, historic pioneer homes.

With that brief introduction, I’ll now just let the following pictures spare you my usual thousand words:

Start your electrons (Click to enlarge)	Road Way (Click to enlarge)
Quail Creek Reservoir (Click to enlarge)	We have our heading (Click to enlarge)
Historic fixer-upper (Click to enlarge)	Let's get going (Click to enlarge)
Readout at campground (Click to enlarge)	Grand entrance (Click to enlarge)
Flash photo (Click to enlarge)	Here's mud in your eye (Click to enlarge)
Trailhead (Click to enlarge)	Back in the garage (Click to enlarge)

Upon arriving in the recreation area, I was perplexed to see that the campground was almost empty, because the BLM site is very popular and usually overcrowded. My guess is that the recent rains and floods had discouraged visitors. As you can see above, the Leaf's display upon arrival shows that the temperature was now 92°F, we had driven 25.6 miles, used 4 of the 12 charge bars, and the GOM predicted 64 miles of range remaining. I was frankly surprised that the efficiency had so far tallied 5.6 miles-per-kWh, apparently boosted by the strong tailwind all the way there.

Of course, that translated into an equally strong —if not stronger— headwind to return home, and thus the average miles-per-kWh for the entire journey dropped to only 5.2. We arrived in the garage after using 3 more charge bars, with 52.2 miles on the odometer, and 35 miles on the GOM. Adding them together gives a total theoretical range of 87.2 miles from the full charge, i.e., a few more than originally predicted. That is pretty good, given the windy conditions, the elevation changes, the constant use of climate control, and 18 months on the battery pack. Obviously, an 80% charge would have sufficed for the day trip, after all.

That’s how I’ll charge the Leaf next time. I’ll also start earlier in the day, bring sunscreen and my trusty water canteen, to hike the trail to the waterfall farther up the canyon. I love visiting these red rock landscapes, but even moreso with zero emissions to keep the wondrous vistas clean and clear.