Do You Really CITO?

We're nearing the end of the annual CITO and souvenirs fall week where cachers go out and clean a park in exchange for a smiley and a souvenir. That's a good thing, but would you attend a CITO if there were no souvenir waiting? If it weren't advertised on social media? We attended one official CITO March 25 at the Erie National Wildlife Refuge. It was the second year we gave back to the wildlife refuge which has opened its lands to physical caches. We got a smiley for it. We met with geofriends (all two who joined us). We gathered a lot of trash.

Beyond that, we entered the game at a time when CITO was mostly about picking up trash on caching journeys. There were no souvenirs and CITO's were less common. We usually have bags with us and will stop and pick up trash on our way back to the hide. It's an easy practice and makes the trail so much better for the next visitor. We don't get a smiley, but we do get the satisfaction of giving back and making the world a better place.

CITO From McKean Reservoir Trails August 2018

It would be great to see geocaching return to this piece of its roots.