There are so many wonderful aspects that attract us to geocaching. But in particular, we appreciate the way the team at geocaching.com make sure to give back to the areas in which geocaches are hidden. To celebrate Earth Day, Geocachers from around the world participated in *CITO events. These geocaching events promote everyday environmentalism by removing trash from local hiking trails and parks.
What does CITO stand for?
*CITO (Cache In Trash Out) is an ongoing environmental initiative supported by the worldwide geocaching community. Since 2002, geocachers have been dedicated to cleaning up parks and other cache-friendly places around the world.
We love that geocaching gives back to nature by implementing CITO events within the game of geocaching. Local geocaching organizations host events periodically (not just on Earth Day) where cachers get together for socializing, caching, and to help clean up community parks. These CITO events are great message about how geocachers truly care about the environment not just on Earth Day, but everyday.
Our Earth Day CITO Experience at Red Top Mountain State Park
The way we celebrated Earth Day during International CITO Weekend by heading up to one of our most favorite state parks in GA, Red Top Mountain State Park in Cartersville, GA. We arrived bright and early, but a lot of the cachers were already on the trails, with trash bags, picking up any trash they ran across.
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Liz and I decided to move along to a more distant trail in the park, since no one had been that direction yet. We have a lot of pride for our State Parks here in Georgia, and Red Top Mountain State Park is pristine! So honestly, there wasn’t much trash to be found. But we made sure to be thorough in our search along the trail with our trash bag, looking close and hard to find any bit of trash that we could grab.
We realized that bringing a bag with us on a trail is a great way to help keep the trails clean all the time, and not just during a CITO event or Earth Day celebration. So we have committed to adding a trash bag to our geocaching essentials from now on. Even though we have found most of the trails in state parks to be extremely clean, there is always something to pick up.
Atlanta Area Geocachers – Local Geocaching Organizations Promote Everyday Environmentalism
Our local Atlanta Area Geocaching Association has adopted part of a walking trail in Candler Park. This is where local cachers get together to host CITO events year-round. They not only help to keep the park clean, but they show the city and state that Geocachers are not just people who search for tupperware in the woods, but good citizens who help keep parks and trails clean for everyone.
Since adopting the portion of the trail throughout the PATH Foundation, the AAG has hosted over 25 CITO events on the trail. On this one mile section of the trail, cachers have found US passports, pool scoopers, and about anything else you can think of. Through the work of the cachers, this section of the park has become one of the prettiest and cleanest sections of this trail. They also worked with the city to plant trees along the trail. We are so proud that our local Geocaching organization is giving back to community all around the city and the state of Georgia.
CITO & Community Environmental Events Are a Great Way to Promote Geocaching as a Hobby
We really love to hear about the ways Geocachers are giving back to their local communities. They are ambassadors for our hobby, and good stewards of the environment. We look forward to continuing to participate in CITO events, and to hearing other stories of how Geocachers are working together to help communities and promote everyday environmentalism.
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