Throughout 2018, members of the local geocaching community teamed up and helped REI, Trails PGH, and The Allegheny County Park Rangers in a series of CITO events that were held at the 9 different Allegheny County Parks. Each of the different CITO's brought different tasks and different goals to help import the trail systems in the 9 parks. This geocache is placed to thank those members of the local caching community that spent their Saturday's in the parks and helping out. The cachers that helped out learned how to lay tread work down for a trail, divert water away from the trail, create rock crossings on trails, and help with the general upkeep of the trail system. At the end of each CITO, you could see the improvements made to the trails right away. Without the efforts of these individuals, these CITOs would not have been very successful. The Round Hill Park CITO was the last CITO for this summer being sponosored by REI, Trails PGH, and The Allegheny County Park Rangers.
The cache that you are seeking is a regular size container, hidden within Round Hill Park. Round Hill Park is open from 8 AM to Sunset Daily. Do not get caught in the park after sunset, as the county police close and lock the gates to the park. The trail that you will be hiking along will most likely be very wet and very muddy. Most of the trail has been widen from the recent CITO, but the last 200 to 300 feet, the trail becomes single track and a slight bushwhack will be needed at the very end to get to ground zero. You will also be traversing numerous hills, so expect slick footing as well, especially if it has recently rained or snowed. I suggest that you were a very sturdy pair of hiking boots, have a sturdy hiking stick, and cloths you do not mind getting dirty and wet. I would not wear your Sunday best to this cache, if you get my drift!
CITO's began on June 2nd with GC7PD9F - National Trails Day 2018 - South Park Cleanup. Work was done on a trail below the wave pool to help with drainage, clearing falling trees, setup a new burm on the side, and help with tread and coordior cleanups.
Trail love was shown next at Settler's Cabin on July 14th with GC7R6JD - Settlers Cabin Trails - A Helping Hand. Work continued on the new connector trail from the old park office down to the existing Red Trail. Work also started on trail maintenance today from the Red Trail down to the Loop Trail. The work today include cutting back the hillside to help with drainage along the trail, laying rock stepping stones over wet sections of the trail, and to cut back vegetation that was growing right along the trail.
On July 28th, the next CITO took place at Harrison Hills Park with GC7TCKH - Harrison Hills Park CITO. The theme for the day at Harrison Hills was to remove trees from the side of the trails to help make the coordiors wider as well as setup a new drainage to help remediate a wet area along the red trail.
The next CITO on August 11, 2018 took place at White Oak Park with GC7TKVA - White Oak CITO. The theme for the day at White Oak was to close a section of trail down so that nature could take over and reclaim that land. Other tasks at White Oak park included berm and tread work on trails, pushing back branches and trees from the side of the trail, and general trail maintenance.
Cachers gathered again on August 25th to spread some trail love to Hartwood Acres at GC7TFHR - Helping a Lending Hand at Hartwood Acres. At Hartwood, the plan for the day was to do some needed water maintenance along the trails as well as put in some rock work to help safe passage over wet areas. Also done was more trail maintenance which included some tread work and widening of the trail in spots by removing growth.
On September 29th, the call for help was sounded again and cachers showed up to help at Boyce Park at GC7VA2P - Boyce Park CITO. The main objective today was putting down a new trail tread and restore a trail that needed some help.
Deer Lakes was the next park that received some trail love on October 13th, with GC7V058 - Deer Lakes Park CITO. Work today was done to help setup a natural ford and replace a bridge along the trails. Again, more some trail tread work and berm work took place as well for this CITO.
Our next CITO was scheduled to take place on October 27th at North Park, but unfortunately, that CITO was cancelled the night before. The weather for Saturday was expected to feature heavy rain and cold temps. The local caching community is looking to come back to North Park in early December to do just a general park cleanup that day.
The final CITO to take place was on November 10th and it took place at Round Hill Park with GC7W5TC GC7W5TC - Round Hill Park CITO. Work at Round Hill Park was done to help establish a new trail that would be used by hikers, mountain bikers, and equestrian riders. Worked include reopening the trail and removing brush and fallen trees along the corridor to make it at least 8 feet wide and with a 10 to 12 feet high ceiling. Because this was basically a new trail that was being established, no tread actual trail work was done. The plan is have this new trail fully operational in the next year or two.
So yes, THANK YOU CACHERS for a very busy and very productive summer within the Allegheny County Parks system. Your help at these events helped tremendously. I would also like to thank glofaw411, JeepPrincess, renruts, and Old Juan for allowing me to use their pictures for this page.