Saturday, April 23, 2011

What did you do for Earth Day?

Here in the Tri-Cities geocaching is very popular and what better way to celebrate Earth Day than a CITO event?!  For those of you who aren't familiar with the 'lingo' of geocaching - CITO stands for cash in, trash out.  Groups get together to do some caching and pick up litter while on the hunt for caches.

Everyone met at the parking area for W.E. Johnson Park, one of 62 city parks in Richland.  This park is 236 acres with multi-use trails and 1/2 mile of Yakima River frontage.  After some quick introductions and instructions we hit the trails with our trash bags and gps units. 
Getting ready to hit the trails

We took some time to find a few caches hidden in the park.  The kids really enjoy trying to locate the containers!  There were a few people who had never been geocaching before and I believe they are now going out to look for gps units of their own.
They were filming for a park video

The kids found the cache - a 'hide a key' rock container!
Hiking off the trail to a cache

After a few hours we headed back and piled up the trash for the park department to pick up on Monday. 
Car parts....'spare tire'?
Everything and a sink?.....no it's a toilet


Back at the parking area a few of the cachers had set up for lunch and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for everyone.  They had chips, water, brownies and even some Easter candy for the kids.

Attendance prizes were drawn for, I  received a trackable geo-necklace!  Everyone got a few things from REI which helped to sponsor this event.   The items included 20% off coupons, lip balm, key chains and Frisbees.  A big 'Thank You' to Jen (Richland park ranger) and Heather (from REI) for all their work in organizing and setting up this event and also to Tumbleweed Pirates for the lunch.
Drawing names for attendance prizes

We continue to enjoy caching everywhere we travel.  Let us know if you would like to come along!

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