Geocaching and CITO

Good morning everyone.  This week's fun fact is all about the CITO.  Most CITO events logged by a Canadian is AnnieMaroo, from Victoria, B.C. with 50.  Top American is RAGE XN from Northeast Ohio with 201 logged CITOs.

Last Sunday was Earth Day.  With that comes CITO (cache in, trash out) events all over this planet we live on.  There was also a virtual souvenir from Geocaching HQ for attending a CITO event.  Did you have a chance to attend a CITO event?

Around here, there was three CITO events.  One in Dauphin, Manitoba, hosted by Jabberwockyz, and two here in the city.  Saturday was the first of the two events.  This one was hosted by Jesterphox and saw geocachers team up with the Kilcona Park Dog Club to spread wood chips on the ground in Kilcona Park to make better walking paths in the park.  This was the second year that the two groups got together.  The wood chips were provided by the city.  Registration began at 9:30am.  The time allotted was 10am to 1pm.  Like the year previous, there was enough people to make short work of the wood chip piles.  Local city councillor, Jeff Browaty was in attendance and provided pizza from Boston Pizza to all those in attendance.  There was also prizes as well.  Jesterphox is the one who decided to team up the geocachers and the dog club, but what to do?  Not all geocachers may want to be picking up dog poo, especially if they don't own a dog.  E-mails back and forth with the president of the dog club resulted in the spreading of wood chips. 

I was fortunate enough to attend both years.  Almost missed it this year as it was my weekend to have my boys.  They were slow to get going (what teenager and pre-teen are eager first thing in the morning).  Last year I was fortunate enough to win one of the prizes.  I was commenting to another geocacher about the last three numbers of my ticket (666), when the person doing the draw announces the next winning ticket as the sign of the devil.  That's my ticket.  

A breakfast event started the next day.  You should eat a big breakfast since there will be lots of work to do.  We gathered at IKEA for this yummy event. 

  In previous years, the Manitoba Geocaching Association cleaned our 'adopted' park, Coronation Park, just outside of the downtown area.  Over the years, the park had been better maintained and the CITO was more of a meet up and chat than picking up litter.  This year, our President of the MBGA, ShopCrazy, decided to change things up and clean a different area that needed it more and has been in need of a CITO for a long time.  The location was the area that is also the home of one of Manitoba's older caches, 'Skaven's Townhouse' GCM673.  The area is tucked away in a corner at the edge of the city, along a river bank.  It has been used as a dumping ground for whatever needed to be dumped, instead of taking it to where it should go, the city dump.  Along with the usual garbage, we also rounded up someone's living room chair, and shingles from a house.

About 40 geocachers decended on the area, including some from out of town, and one cacher, WhiskeySowers, from North Dakota.  While some focussed on the river bank, others cleaned along the edge of the highway.  In two hours, we made a noticeable dent in the mess that existed.  There's still more to do in this area and we'll return.  CITOs don't have to be during Earth Day or have virtual rewards attached to them.  You can do a CITO on your own, every time you go out geocaching.  Every piece of trash you pick up helps keep our planet clean and healthy.  We had the usual honking of motorists showing their appreciation as they passed by on the highway.  Even some of the area residents who use the community garden commented on the difference we made.

That's it for this week.  I'll be back next week, same bat time, same bat channel, with another adventure, or a spotlight, or maybe something that's on my mind that's geocaching related.  Until then, peace out, enjoy, and remember, geocaching is meant to be fun.