Saturday, April 9th
Breakfast: 8:00 a.m.
Clean-Up: 9:00 a.m. (coordinates above)
It's time to join with our fellow cachers around the country and clean up our neighborhoods. This year we are getting a jump on Groundspeak and getting out a week earlier than the national CITO day. We are doing this in order to participate in the local Creek Week Clean Up Day. Creek Week is organized every year by the Sacramento Urban Creeks Council of Sacramento. This event will take place even if it rains.
This year, I am the Creek Week coordinator for the Folsom area. While meeting with the City of Folsom streets/creeks/drainage guy I asked, “Which location in Folsom needs the most help?”
He looked at me and said, “There is one place in Folsom that is so challenging that in 20 years has only been cleaned up four times. Many prison crews have evaluated the location, but have instead opted for easier locations. You would need a group that can handle rough terrain, isn’t afraid of a scratch or two, and can do things that most people would think is crazy.”
I wasn’t sure if he was talking about litter pick-up or quoting “A Dirty Dozen”, but I looked him in the eye and said, “I think I know or such a group… and they don’t wear orange overalls.” (I left out the thing about kilts.)
The coordinates above are for the clean-up location. The clean-up is from 9:00 a.m to noon.
The coordinates for the no-host pre-cleanup breakfast rendezvous is:
N38 40.690
W121 13.777
This is Annie's at 8800 Greenback in Orangevale. The group will meet there for breakfast at 8:00 am on Saturday, April 9th.
Trash bags will be provided. Another advantage of being a part of the Creek Week Clean-up is that we can pile the trash bags and shopping carts and other large items in the pull out spot by the street and the City will pick it up on Monday.
I won’t be joining you for breakfast, but I will make sure a logbook and trash bags are available at the clean-up site.
Only a little parking close by...more about a block away. My gameplan is to hide an cache with trash bags and log book at the site behind a tree. Call my cell phone 955-4183 for the coordinates at 9 a.m. on April 9th.
The sad thing is, this creek doesn’t even have a name on the USGS topo map. So, I am going to call it RCGDS Creek for now. I’ll ask my Sacramento Urban Creeks Council contact and my City of Folsom contact and see if it has an official name. ***Update: Thanks to Pa Pa K, I've been educated and now know the creek is called Gold Creek. The bridge which was built in 1915, two years before Rainbow Bridge, will be getting updated soon. Here is a link
http://www.folsomtelegraph.com/articles/2005/01/12/news/top_stories/03bridge.txt
Rules: To log as a find, show up. sign in, and clean from 9 to noon. You will also need to sign the Creek Week sign-in sheet (using a real name).
T-Shirts: If you sign-up in advance on this web page and include your t-shirt size, you will get a Creek Week t-shirt.
For those of you interested, there is a Creek Week celebration from noon to 2:00 at the Discovery Museum Science Center at 3615 Auburn Boulevard. Enjoy a picnic served by the Maharlika Lions Club, live music by “Bonebag”, Earth-friendly exhibits and interactive displays. You can even enter your clean-up finds in the junk and gunk contest. The monthly RCGDS dinner get-together will be held later that day. As I type this, I don't know where or what time it will be held.
Some of you may be wondering what the junk and gunk contest is... It is contest where the junk that you find is judged againist junk found by others. The more intereting the junk, the better. It has evolved into a semi-art or sculpture contest with the winning entries being a conglomeration of various items. Visualize a pay phone body, with a paint bucket head, with bailing wire for arms, holding a laundry basket with a one-legged G.I. Joe. The contest is held at the Discovery Museum so you need to transport the junk pieces. Also, you can't park at the museum next to the contest location, so the items have to be carry-able (no old dishwashers). Given that our creek site has not been cleaned in many years, I would think we would find some interesting junk items. Give it some thought if you want to enter. You do not need to sign up in advance. Also, anyone can enter, it is not one entry per clean-up site. The items do need to be found at the clean-up site.
Checklist: (From Creeks Council- I know these will be obvious to geocachers.)
Comfortable, washable clothes
Long pants and Long sleeves
Hat and sunscreen
Gloves (Work or gardening type)
Shoes that can get wet and muddy
Waterproof boots (optional)
Grabbing tool(optional)(I saw these at Home Depot for $20 yesterday.)
Jeo says to bring some bug repellant
All children must be with a responsible adult. There can be hidden hazards in the debris, plus water and slippery stream banks can be hazards. This creek looks tough for small children, take a look at the photos below. If you bring a child, your most important job is to supervise and keep them safe. Collecting trash is secondary for adults in charge of children. Thank you for making it possible for them to have this experience.
Before and After pictures encouraged and appreciated. BEFORE:
DURING:
AFTER:
