9/11/08: WHOLESALE
CHANGES MADE - PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR UPDATE
At the minimum, we would like to see 10-15 cachers
attend so we can cover at least two locations. For cachers who want
a "drive up" C.I.T.O. area, they will be cleaning up part of the
Pine Hill Preserve in and around the area near the end of Palmer
Drive in Cameron Park. For those who would like to take a short
hike to the C.I.T.O. area (~1.5 miles), they will be concentrating
on the river's edge in Cronan Ranch. Please let us know in your log
which area you would prefer. We will meet at the posted coordinates
and car pool to one of the two designated areas.
Should we get more folks than expected and they are
willing to be flexible, we can expand our clean up (as per your
personal preferences) to other BLM lands including Mt. Murphy,
Weber Creek, Consumnes River Basin (near Bucks Bar), and the shores
of Folsom Lake near New York Creek. There will be an ARC "scout"
visiting many of these areas in July and reporting back to us which
areas are in the largest need of a litter removal. But again, this
would be totally voluntary on your part. The primary C.I.T.O. sites
will be Pine Hill Preserve followed by Cronan Ranch.
As for the assignment, we will simply be picking up trash from
about 9:30 am until 11:30 am.
Stay tuned for details on the BBQ. It will probably be
sometime early afternoon. We will let you know soon!
There will be a raffle of useful caching items, a group
picture, cacher snacks, and other of the usual ancillary caching
games and activities typical of C.I.T.O. events. Everyone will have
fun being with other cachers while doing a good deed for an
organization that continues giving us more places to
cache.
Hope to see you there.
Okay, lets start from scratch here. When this cache was first
submitted, the reviewers questioned it as being "for geocachers by
geocachers". Although that was hard to understand at the time, it
is clearly evident now and obvious why that guideline is in place.
Nonetheless, here's the scoop...
This C.I.T.O. will be split between two locations, one primary
and one secondary location. The primary location will be the land
adjacent to the Pine Hill Preserve in Cameron Park at the end of
Palmer Drive (posted coordinates). The secondary location will be
Cronan Ranch and
neighboring lands. The actual cleanup portion will be a short
two hours, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. After the cleanup, the ARC has
extended it's welcome to a free BBQ for geocachers who participate
(granted you fill out their form provided at the clean up site).
The BBQ will be held at
Lions Park in Placerville from noon until about 1pm. All of the
trash will be hauled to Lions Park, weighed and photographed before
it goes into the 20 YD dumpster.
Here's the current game plan:
All participants are encouraged to meet at the posted coordinates
promptly at 9am. We would like to have as many people as
possible sign the log and a group photo before splitting up. From
there, the Cronan group will depart and report to the main
Cronan parking area (15-20 minute drive). Wineinc and Walts
Hunting will be heading up that group and Scoobert will be heading
up the Pine Hill group. Since the Pine Hill site is in far greater
need of clean up, we're hoping to keep about 2/3 of
the attendees there. But we're not going to force you to one
location or another. Group photos at each of the two sites and at
Lions Park will also be sought after.
Cronan Group: we were originally told that the BLM would be
removing the trash for us, but it appears that is not the case. So
if anyone has a pickup truck to help haul the trash back to Lions
Park, it would be appreciated. FYI, the
Greenwood Creek portion of Cronan offers the shortest walk to
the river's edge where we suspect the majority of the trash will
probably be. Don't report directly there, go to the main Cronan
parking lot first to get your trash bags and supplies. If anyone
has mountain bikes they want to bring to Cronan, that is
encouraged. You can ride to further reaches of the Ranch to gather
trash. Riding your bike back with a full trash bag in hand could
prove challenging, but we've seen cachers do amazing things before
(if that does happen, someone please be sure to get pictures
!). Keep in mind that by the time
you ride out there and back, you'll probably only have an hour
or so of clean up time.
Pine Hill Group: feel free to throw trash at Scoobert for
screwing this C.I.T.O. up so bad
(but try to avoid throwing sharp
objects, okay
). Oh, and we believe that
the BLM will have a truck to haul our collection of trash to
Lions Park, but that could be subject to change at the last
minute. The county has been contacted as a backup. And if
anyone has a pickup truck they'd like to bring JUST IN CASE,
that will be reassuring, too
.
Of note, the ARC has a bunch of other muggle groups heading out
to other locations to clean up. Locations include Hangtown Creek,
Happy Valley, Middle Fork Consumnes, and Brown's Ravine. Those
muggle groups will also be bringing their trash back to Lions Park
to weigh in. We'd love to see the geocachers' totals blow away the
muggles' totals! The Hangtown Creek group will probably be our
biggest competition, so let's show them the power of
geocachers!
Usual precautions here. It's still snake season so be careful
where you are reaching! Boots with sturdy toes are encouraged and
bring a pair of work gloves. We will have an abundance of latex
gloves and dust masks for anyone who would like them. We will also
have a couple of cases of water.
One last note...although reporting to the posted coordinates
initially is encouraged, if your attendance is debatable because of
that simply report directly to Cronan Ranch by 9:30 am. I'll be
giving the Cronan leaders a page of the logbook.
Hope to see you there.
