Tag: CITO

/ Eric Schudiske /

Cache In Trash Out (CITO) – A Lackey’s Story

 

"This CITO's a Beach"

By: MissJenn

The CITO season is thick upon us. This past weekend, several Lackeys joined dozens of other geocachers at two CITO events near Groundspeak HQ.

Dani, LutherNation and myself (MissJenn) participated in “This CITO’s a Beach.”

MissJenn holding the CITO flag

Rain fell heavily as we drove towards the location and when we got there, no one else was in the designated meeting point. Oh no! Did everyone else cancel because of the weather?

Not at all. It was simply the fact that we had arrived an hour early and no one was there yet. This was a perfect opportunity to go find a nearby geocache where we enjoyed views of Puget Sound and listened to the barking of the nearby sea lions.

At the actual start time, gloves and yellow CITO garbage bags were distributed to the many people who braved our typically-wet weather. What at first looked like a very clean little park proved to be a park that really needed our help.

Larger pieces of trash cleaned off the beach

We collected a spare tire, various chunks of discarded metal, fluorescent light tubes, some bad beer that teenagers had saved for a later party, and a car seat . There were plenty of the usual discarded cans and bottles. The highlight of the day was a huge and heavy piece of bulky chain link that was actually still attached to something buried deeply in the sand. I pulled on it and it would not budge. Several more-muscled geocachers came to my aid. We joked that perhaps we ought not to yank it out in case it is the drain plug that keeps the water in Puget Sound. The team eventually managed to “encourage” a weak link to break off and we trashed that very large eyesore off the beach. The sea lions playing nearby looked at us approvingly.

We hauled the litter that we found all the way down the beach, up a steep staircase that crossed the railroad tracks, and through the park to the litter collection point. A job well done!

Trash collected during CITO

Meanwhile, a few miles away, other Lackeys joined nearly 30 other geocachers at the Bellevue Parks Arbor Day CITO.

They planted evergreen trees that towered six or more feet tall. While this was part of a larger tree-planting, there was a portion of this event that was specifically organized by geocachers and for geocachers. It was a great way to give back to Washington, also known as the Evergreen State. Another job well done!

More events like these are coming up all over the world. Please check the CITO calendar to find one near you.

Tell us about your CITO event. What was the most unique piece of garbage you threw away?

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocachers climb Mt. Fuji to Cache In Trash Out (CITO)

Mt. Fuji, outside of Toyko Japan, reaches 3,776 m (12,388 ft.) into the sky, but is still not immune from the trash found at lower elevations.  Geocacher atstgm helped organize an ascent of Mt. Fuji to complete a grueling Cache In Trash Out (CITO) tour.

Mt. Fuji CITO

Armed with garbage bags more than a dozen geocachers started hiking up the tallest mountain in Japan at 11:00am on September 3rd.

They stayed over night at a staging area, then began hiking again in the predawn darkness at 1:30am on the 4th.

Mt. Fuji CITO Logbook

The group reached the summit of Mt. Fuji around 5am and began the CITO event by picking up bags full of trash.  They also searched for the five geocaches along the route and at the summit.  Watch this raw video of the ambition climb.

Check out the events calender to see if there’s a CITO event near you.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocachers Guard Nature as Citizen Scientists – Geocaching.com’s Lost & Found Video

Your next geocaching adventure can help save the environment from a multi-billion dollar scourge, invasive species.  Scientists at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado created a website called, CitSci.org.  They’re calling all geocachers to help track the spread of species which damage the natural environment. It’s a global project, that begins just outside your front door.

You can find more information on Citizen Science by clicking the image below.

Citsci.org

There are many more geocaching adventures. Take a look at all the Lost & Found videos here.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocachers Deep Clean Mother Nature

So, your TV stops working. Just stops. What do you do? You take the 42″ TV to your pristine local park. You quickly swivel your head around. There’s no one there. Then you clumsily dump the TV in the deep brush. Done. Maybe it’s biodegradable?!?!

Wait. Wait. Wait. That’s not YOU. You’re the person who’s waist deep in thorny brush pulling out the battered (and NOT biodegradable) TV. And there’s also a lawnmower and another TV and even more trash. Whew.

Carnation, WA USA – COWWS CITO Event

You’re not alone. Thousands of Geocachers around the world took the weekend of the April 24 th and 25th to clean their local parks and trails. It’s called Cache In Trash Out (CITO). It’s a little payback for what has been a couple pretty rough centuries for ol’ Mother Nature. And we’ve seen what happens when Mother Nature doesn’t get the respect she deserves – cue the volcano.

Good choice in helping cleanup the place. If you didn’t help yet, don’t fear the volcano. CITO events happen throughout the year. Find your opportunity here. If you did a CITO let’s see some of your pictures and video on Facebook. And Thank YOU!