Hikin' and Drivin'

This weekend, Rod and his sister, Lightning, who was visiting for the weekend, were kind enough to invite me to come along on a quick hike up Icehouse Canyon. It was a pleasure to get up there; the whole south side of the canyon was covered in snow, although it had melted on the north side. There was a bit of snow and ice on the trial, but not too much.

Rod the geologist was chock full of great details on the rocks we passed, and Lightning was just fun to hang out with, as she bounded up the mountain, leaving me gasping for breath trying to keep up. It's always a good day up on the mountain.

I actually drove us up in the new Prius, since Rod drives a two-seat pickup. It's still in the break-in period (the first 600 miles), so I took it easy and just crept up the mountain, making lousy mileage. Fortuntely, I mostly made it back on the way down -- the hybrid battery was charged all the way up, higher than I've ever seen it. Woo hoo.

In fact, I made nearly 52 mpg on the way in to work. I guess that's not too hard, since I live at around 1,000 feet, and work at sea level. On the way back, I saw around 48mpg; I'm still not sure whether the difference is due to the climb up the hill, or due to the fact that I can haul ass on the way home, 'cause congestion has finally eased.

In any case, that's pretty solid mileage, for the Prius -- my commute must be a nearly perfect match for the hybrid scheme. Hopefully this will continue to work out!