Retiring a Leave No Trace Subaru

Lafayette, IN:  Living out of our Subarus full time, the Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainers can put these vehicles through a lot. This means we usually retire our Subarus early, sending them on to greener pastures and less intense use. 

 

This last week, we made the switch from our 2017 Outback to a 2019 Ascent. This is the Traveling Trainer equivalent of moving out of our starter home and into the three bedroom house in the suburbs, complete with new welcome (floor) mats.

 

 

While the extra room is amazing, and hauling all our education gear has never been easier, we will never forget all the adventures we had with our Outback. You don’t realize how attached you can become to a car until you spend almost every waking moment with it. 

 

Our Outback CHIM (or Car Home In Motion) had quite the life with Leave No Trace, going over 44,000 miles and spending one and a half years as a Traveling Trainer home and mobile education provider. During our five months on the road with CHIM, here are some highlights of where our adventures took us:

 

26 States – We traveled all throughout the Eastern United States teaching people minimum impact practices, and this work has taken us to more than half of the states in the US with just this vehicle!

 

 

60 workshops – CHIM has been an absolute stellar team member for all of our educational workshops. In addition to hauling all of our informational and course materials, he has also served as an impromptu table, billboard, and anchor for our tent. 

 

 

76 parks, forests, and protected lands – It's safe to assume that our Leave No Trace vehicles are some of the most well traveled cars in the country. In five months, our Outback visited 76 separate National and State Parks and Forest Services sites throughout the eastern US. All along the way drawing folks in to learn more about Leave No Trace.

 

 

15,000 miles – Many people don’t even put 15,000 miles on a car during an entire year, let alone do it in five months packed full of events and education workshops. 

 

 

 

When we break it down, it really is an impressive feat to see how far CHIM and Subaru took our Leave No Trace message these last five months, and that is only a small piece of CHIM’s overall life with Leave No Trace and Subaru’s 19 year partnership. We can’t wait to see where our new Ascent takes us!

 

 

Leave No Trace's Erin Collier and Brice Esplin are part of the 2018 Subaru/Leave No Trace Traveling Trainer Program that provides free, mobile education to communities across the country. Proud partners of this program include Subaru of America, REI, Eagles Nest Outfitters, Deuter, Thule, Taxa and Klean Kanteen.