Although this year’s official Cache In Trash Out Day has already past (it was April 14), there are still a bunch of clean-up events being held today across the US, dovetailing nicely with Earth Day activities. CITO events are organized by geocaching enthusiasts, who travel all over in search of hidden treasure. It’s an opportunity for GPS hunt-lovin’ hobbyists to make sure cache-friendly locations throughout the world are being kept clean and environmentally unharmed.
In the US, there are a variety of Earth Day CITO events planned to clean up roads, parks and hiking trails. And around the world folks are getting creative about clean-ups too: At one CITO gathering in Canada, 85 new trees will be planted in coordination with the local township. In South Africa, a Big Bay Beachcomb will be followed by a group breakfast, and a maintenance check on a nearby cache, a regular geocaching task that will surely happen often during CITO events. There may also be dicsussion about how geocachers can make sure recent scares like this don’t happen anymore. Although at times the hidden caches can cause confusion, geocachers are generally quite mindful of cache placement and its’ impact on the environment and surrounding community.
Of course, CITO is something that should be happening every day, and each time geocachers interact with natural surroundings in the course of their hide and seek adventures. (Which is basically all the time.) But CITO events are a great way to build additional awareness about the popular scavenger hunt activity, and make sure its participants are doing their part to keep Planet Earth happy while they play.