Are gas prices affecting your hiking?

[SpencerVT]

I live in VT just north of the Mass border. Yesterday I drove to Canaan/Lemington Vt to hike what's informally known as Alder Brook Peak, approx 2,500' as well as some other peaks on the VT500 highest list.
The gas prices in Island Pond Vermont were a full $5.
I am so glad this wasn't in the period were I was hiking the Maine 3Ks, otherwise I would be filing for bankruptcy!!
As it is, the trip yesterday cost me $600,000 and I had to sell my kids to afford the gasoline.

Lately, I have been curtailing some of my weekday driving and expenses so I can save to be able to drive my usual 2-4 hours away on the weekend.
These gas prices are definitely affecting where I hike and to some extent how much I hike. How about you?

 

[JToll]

I did think about it when I put $85 in my tank for the trip back to Rhode Island, but do not plan any changes.

 

[peakbagger]

Those trips within 43 round trip miles of my plug in range on my plug in hybrid are really tempting these days. Nice to get home and just plug in to my excess solar to fill the battery backup.

 

[Mike P.]

Short answer yes, to stay outdoors, I'm walking more in the neighborhood and there is a 1/4 acre puddle on our street with a few bass in it so I'm fishing again after a few years off. If I am looking for a training trip outside of town. I'll likely do Mt. Tom from the North. From Route 5, it's approx. 11.2 miles RT and if you stay on the NET the whole way, total elevation gain is close to 2,000 feet to climb a 1202 ft. peak.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Fewer trips of longer length. At least 3 days in the woods and accessible via rt16 at times of low traffic (slower speed limit, better gas mileage.) I picked the wrong time to buy an older truck.

 

[Rhody Seth]

My wife and I are both very fortunate to be able to work fully remote so we don't do much driving as is (I spent 15 years driving two hours a day for work and remember the pain at the pump the last time gas prices skyrocketed). As a result I don't plan to change my driving habits this summer and intend to visit the Whites several times.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

No but rental car prices are.

Living in Manhattan I haven't owned a car since 1993. Up until the pandemic it was a lot cheaper to rent a car 10 or 12 times a year, even for a week or two at a time.

Now a midsize car approaches $200 a day. That's $1000 to camp for a weekend in the Whites or ADKs, before any other expenses. $250 for a day hike like Schunemunk or Timp Torne.

 

[maineguy]

Short answer is no. Before retiring I used to drive (commute) 500 miles a week plus whatever I drove on weekends. Now I do about 500 miles a month.

 

[briarpatch]

I had two options when heading out for a hike. Now real only one when heading out. 1977 Chevy Van with 292 Inline 6 that gets around 12 mpg or Chevy Bolt that travels 250 miles plus on less then $9 on electric. $100 to fill the van for slightly less distance.

In the winter our distance we can travel in the Bolt does lower to around 150 to 175 miles. But after a winter day of hiking and getting back to the car at dusk with temperatures hovering around zero. It is nice to have nearly instantaneous heat.

SpencerVT - Now that you have sold the kids. You should have plenty of disposal income to buy a second home in the mountains.

 

[richard]

“I picked the wrong time to buy an older truck”. If your eyes were open, you would have seen it coming a year and a half ago.

 

[JoshandBaron]

“I picked the wrong time to buy an older truck”. If your eyes were open, you would have seen it coming a year and a half ago.

The truck was purchased in 2019.

 

[nartreb]

Gas is not high on my list of worries. I no longer commute to work, so my car expenses generally are very low. (Or were, until my car died over the weekend. Bad time to be looking for a replacement. I've been putting it off for months, hoping the pandemic supply chain issues would go away.) My (now defunct) hybrid would get to Franconia Notch and back on one tank of gas, that has roughly doubled in price over the past year or two from $20 to $40, but that's no big deal compared to, say, food and lodging.

 

[richard]

The truck was purchased in 2019.

Oh, 2019. My bad. That was in the good ol’ days, when the cost of gas was less than $2.00 a gallon!

 

[JoshandBaron]

Oh, 2019. My bad. That was in the good ol’ days, when the cost of gas was less than $2.00 a gallon!

It was glorious.

 

[jfb]

My hiking hasn't yet been affected by high gas prices because I live in an area that has a good selection of interesting trails and I'm not interested in frequently driving several hours each way to hike. I still head up to the WMNF a few times each year and climb some peaks that I haven't done yet or others that I've done more than once, sometimes with new friends who haven't been there before. I remember living in South Jersey during the 1979 gas shortage and driving 4 hours each way to climb at the Gunks. Although gas prices were lower than today, at least the long lines are gone.

 

[JustBob]

Not at all.

 

[maineguy]

Those trips within 43 round trip miles of my plug in range on my plug in hybrid are really tempting these days. Nice to get home and just plug in to my excess solar to fill the battery backup.

I am not familiar with a plug in hybrid. What is the advantage over a regular hybrid. One of our vehicles is a Honda hybrid that does not plug in. It gets around 45 mpg.

 

[peakbagger]

A plug in Hybrid (PHEV) has extra battery capacity that can be charged up prior to trip. Battery range varies from 40 to 45 miles for me. A regular hybrid charges the battery from regenerative braking/ generating power downhill. It may have carry a small charge in between trips but the engine rapidly turns on. A PHEV is effective an electric vehicle until the extra charge is consumed. Once the extra battery capacity is depleted its a regular hybrid with 450 to 500 miles of additional range running gas. My Rav 4 Prime gets about 38 MPG highway once the battery is depleted. I think its the first PHEV with AWD which IMO is required to live in the North Country. I have excess solar capacity so its effectively free to charge up. A side benefit is its the 2nd fastest 0 to 60 of all current Toyotas. They were eligible for the federal EV credit of $7,500 effectively making the plug in aspect "free" compared to the regular hybrid but its expected that Toyota will run out of credits this quarter.

Thus any trip less than 40 to 45 miles round trip is free which means most ot the Northern Presidentials, RMC and Shelburne trails are all a "free" ride.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

So if it's free, then we can all park at your house and charge our cars for free, while you shuttle us to and fro since it's also free?



Tim

 

[sierra]

Not at all. I hike and if I had too, I would give up something else before I gave up hiking. Fortunately, I'm in a position where I can afford to go anywhere I want. This weekend, I logged just over 500 miles driving to get my dog a few of his 52wav peaks, he's the Boss.