Award-winning group of geocachers

The environment wins big when geocachers attend Cache In Trash Out (CITO) events. But now a group of Texas, USA geocachers are winning for their cleanup efforts.

Travis Gilbert (SKnight579) organized the Permian Basin Cachers Association CITO Events. Travis says, “We are a smaller group of cachers (around about 30) in the middle of nowhere out in West Texas.”

“A smaller group” with a big agenda to pick up trash. They’ve adopted two sites and pledged to clear trash from those areas on a regular basis. One site is a stretch of four lane highway and another is a location in a nearby city.  The group has held CITO events at these locations over the past couple years. Travis says, “We are under contract to clean the road two times a year, we do it four times a year, and we also separate out recyclables as we go for a small bit of money for the group (covers the water basically).”

Permian Basin Geocachers Win State Award

Travis says the extra effort was noticed. His email inbox had a surprise waiting for him a couple weeks ago, “I received an email from the State of Texas that our little group would also be getting the “Group of the Year” award for the State! I’m really proud of our group.” Gilbert says they also won another award from the City of Midland, Texas for the Permian Basin Geocachers cleanup efforts there.

He says the group is inspiring other local geocachers to help make a difference. “I know of several other groups of cachers in Texas that have adopted roads and spots after seeing what our group has done and I could not be prouder of our group.”

Trackable state and local awards for Permian Geocachers

Bagging trash and picking up recyclables has an occasional reward.

Travis says, “The best find was our last cleanup in April when we found 20 proof sets of coins scattered over half of our adopted area. We called the police and no one had reported them missing and I spoke about it on the news that night and no one tried to contact me, so win win. There were 10 of us cleaning that trip so we raffled them and each took two sets home.”

Now they’re also taking home trophies. Travis did what any geocacher would do with the awards. He says “I’ve also made both awards Trackable.” Check out the Trackable pages here and here. Three geocachers, besides Travis, attended all the CITO events. They include grumpyoldtexan, DeKoning, and ZSandmann.

Since 2002, geocachers around the world have been dedicated to improving parks and other cache-friendly places. There are dozens of CITO events around the world each month. Check out the CITO Events Calendar to find at CITO near you.

Permian Basin Geocachers

You could be the Geocacher of the Month

Groundspeak needs your help acknowledging a geocacher each month that stands out by inspiring other geocachers with their innovation, creative hides and/or logs, respect for the environment, and geocaching etiquette. This person can be your best geocaching buddy, a geocacher you know as a local legend, or a long time geocacher who invites newbies to the geocaching community.

The Geocacher of the Month celebrates geocachers for their contributions and diversity. Geocachers are outdoorsy, technically apt, young, old, parents, single, athletic, intelligent, travelers, grandparents, and more. They are a uniquely eclectic group, unified by their passion for the activity of geocaching.

If you know an outstanding geocacher who should be the Geocachers of the Month, send an email to geocacherofthemonth@groundspeak.com.

Every nomination must meet the following requirements. Please include your name, the name of your nominee, their username, at least one picture of the nominee and description (in 500 or fewer words) explaining why he or she deserves to be the Geocacher of the Month. Please inform your nominee that you’ve submitted them for the award. Nominations for the first Geocacher of the Month must be received by August 4^th.

Once we have received all of the nominations, we will choose the top three candidates and post them on the blog. You will then get a chance to vote for your favorite.

We’ll name the Geocacher of the Month on August 20^th at the Geocaching Block Party in Seattle, Washington, USA. Each Geocacher of the Month will receive an exclusive special edition ”Geocacher of the Month” Geocoin along with a Geocacher of the Month hat and certificate acknowledging their contributions signed by the founders of Geocaching.com: Jeremy Irish, Bryan Roth and Elias Alvord.

Our goal is to involve the entire geocaching community in this process so as to learn from each other. Let the nominations begin!

The Canadian Environment Week geocaching contest runs from April 30 to June 11, 2011. During this time, geocaches containing a password can be found in National Parks, at National Historic Sites and on National Wildlife Areas throughout Canada. It’s an opportunity for geocachers to explore these areas and even have a chance to win prizes. Adventurers wishing to participate in the contest must collect a password from the selected geocaches and submit it on the Canadian Environment Week website. Contest participation and the password are not required in order to simply log your finds on any of these great caches.

Click here to view the bookmark list of the Canadian Environment Week geocaches that are listed on Geocaching.com, thanks to the Atlantic Canada Geocaching Association. A few others can be found through Environment Canada directly.

Even without prizes, geocaching during Canadian Environment Week is a great opportunity to explore Canada’s natural beauty. Canadian National Parks, National Historic Sites and National Wildlife Areas are located on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts, across the interior mountains and plains and Great Lakes, reaching as far north and south as Canada goes!

Geocachers will enjoy the breathtaking scenery and inspiring natural surroundings of Canada. National Parks provide the perfect setting for tuning into nature, learning about it, appreciating it, respecting it and pledging to protect it. Celebrate Canadian Environment Week by doing just that, and don’t forget to CITO to help preserve the environment.

"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?

CITO Event cache, "Come plant a tree"

Vila Real, Portugal – Geocachers in Portugal recently gathered for a Cache In Trash Out (CITO) Event cache.  The geocachers helped the environment, but they didn’t take out bags of trash.  Instead they left something behind.   The group of geocachers planted hundreds of trees in an area of Portugal ravaged by recent wildfires.

Tree destroyed by recent wildfires

Jorge Cardoso, Osodrac Team, organized the CITO called, “Vem plantar uma Árvore” (GC25KYV). The event translates from Portuguese into English simply as, “Come plant a tree.”  More than a dozen geocachers grabbed shovels and got to work on October 16th.

Geocacher planting a tree at CITO event GC25KYV

Cardoso says local authorities were quick to provide the willing geocachers with help. He says, “We talked with the people of the Municipality of Vila Real, who gave us the trees and talked with the President of the Parish of Vila Cova who gave us a plot of land.”

Hugo Silva, SUp3rFM, is the Volunteer Reviewer who published the CITO event.  He says, “I thought of it as a very nice idea. A cool concept. The owner was really into it. He gathered a lot of local support for the authorities, got some equipment, seeds, hardware, etc. His goal was to plant trees on an area that was caught by wild fires in the past. Geocachers would certainly go along. I always say they’re very nice people.”

"Bosque do Geocacher"

The geocachers didn’t just plant trees.  They placed a geocache.  It’s a geocache Cardoso describes as unique for Portugal.  It’s a standard sized cache located near a plaque to geocachers.

The plaque was placed after the CITO event.  The plaque and the new cache have the same title.  They’re both called “Bosque do Geocacher” (GC2FPJW).   It translates to “Geocacher’s Grove.”

Silva says, “I think that we, as a group, have something to say to the non-geocaching community. Our common interest takes us to remote locations to enjoy wildlife and nature, clean out the trash that some forgot along the way, with only a few rewards as a prize: A smile and a great feeling of good will.”

According to Cardoso he’s considering another CITO event next year.  He says, “Finally, I tell you it was an action that left us – Team Osodrac – I, my wife and my son very proud of all of the geocachers’ achievements. We think our great community can organize themselves and work towards a cause that leaves a mark for a more promising future. We believe we have fulfilled our purpose of helping our world, on a small scale, it is true, but what matters is the intention of improving it.”

Geocachers after CITO event GC25KYV

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.

Kilimanjaro Lava Tower (GC25W5D) is an EarthCache three million years in the making.  KDubs created this EarthCache and two others on the mountain.    Kilimanjaro Lava Tower (GC25W5D), Kilimanjaro Climate Zones (GC1X8Ao) and Kilimanjaro Glacial Sublimation (GC29PKY) all wait for visitors to answer their EartheCache questions.

Lava Tower

Kilimanjaro’s summit reaches 19,342 feet (5895 meters) into the clouds.  The Eastern African mountain rose about three million years ago during the formation of the Great Right Valley. Kilimanjaro Lava Tower (GC25W5D) requires you to answer two questions about this rock tower, from one of the three volcanoes which comprise the mountain.

Kilimanjaro Climate Zones (GC1X8A0) asks you to take a photo in each of the five climate zone on the mountain.

Kilimanjaro Glacial Sublimation (GC29PKY) challenges you to explore the fading glaciers of the mountain.  You need to answer three questions and provide a photo.

Geocachers at the summit of Kilimanjaro

Glacier on Kilimanjaro

Today, adventures hike up the mountain in the thousands.  Geocachers stop along the way to claim EarthCaches, learn about the mountain, the forces that formed it and the glaciers that still crown Kilimanjaro.

Explore other Geocaches of the Week here.

This difficulty 4, terrain 5 Virtual Cache delivers geocachers to what’s reported to be one of the most popular dive sites on the West Coast of North America.  The dive site is located off Catalina Island, California.  According to the cache page, you must use SCUBA gear to reach the cache and dive with a partner.

PezCachers, Jill and Ken, created the geocache.

They say, “We enjoy placing caches that have some sort of history to them and are fun to find. GCJ9YK is a fine example of that. When we placed the cache in 2004, there were very few underwater caches and we thought it would be fun to see how many geocachers were divers. Turns out there are a lot! Thanks for bringing attention to the great legend who gave us a vision and the key to the silent world.”

PezCachers asks three questions before you’re able to claim the cache. Beside answering to those questions at this Virtual Cache, you’ll also discover much more: wrecks, drop-offs and come face to face with countless colorful fish.

Explore all the Geocaches of the Week here.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Virtual Caches are no longer available for creation on Geocaching.com.  These types of caches are now considered waymarks on Waymarking.com.

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.

A local resident near GC5803

Just in time for the beginning of the best weather to travel north, is our Geocache of the Week GC5803.  The geocache titled, “As North As It Gets!” takes you up to N. 82 degrees.

Besides the wolf above, cachers who’ve logged GC5803 say you’ll also be walking among foxes, lemmings and even polar bears.  The cache is just outside what’s reported to be the northernmost permanently inhabited place on earth: Alert, Canada. The Canadian Air Force staffs a station there. Temperatures in Alert average about -30 degrees Celsius most of the year.

Geocacher finding GC5803. At last report, the cache thankfully contained gloves and hand warmers.

Now is the perfect opportunity to plan your northern caching adventure.  July is typically the warmest month.  The snow melts to reveal a rocky terrain of jagged shale.  Temperatures average a scorching six degrees Celsius (42 Fahrenheit).  You could be among the nearly two dozen geocachers to earn a smiley for logging this cache and take away memories of a rarely visited northern landscape.

View from near the GC5803

What to explore more geocaching adventures? Take a look at all the Geocaches of the Week here.

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