Cache In, Trash Out in Browns Summit

Geocaching is not solely about hunting hidden containers and scribbling your moniker on a log sheet. Geocaching is intended to be an environmentally friendly activity, so, in keeping with that concept, geocachers periodically get together at what's known as CITO ("Cache In, Trash Out") events, where the focus is on cleaning up litter.

As they do each year, friends Tom & Linda (a.k.a. Skyhawk63 & Punkins19) hosted a CITO event this morning near their place in Browns Summit, NC, along a stretch of rural road that they adopted in honor of Tom's parents. I got up early and headed down to the event ("Bud & Ann Memorial CITO Spring 2025") where a fair number of geocachers were gathering to attack trash. For the next hour and a half, we scoured a mile-long stretch of the roadway, which passes through a lovely section of forest along the Haw River. By the time we were done, one would have been hard-pressed to find a speck of garbage along there with a magnifying glass.

To cap off the morning's work, Tom & Linda then hosted a lunch event ("Post-CITO Lagagna Fest—Yum!) at their place, featuring Linda's fantastic homemade lasagna. Afterward, friend Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott) and I set our sights on a bunch of new geocaches around Reidsville, which we knocked out during the rest of the afternoon. A good, productive time from start to finish.

 

The CITO event was long-planned, and I'm glad I took part in it; however, I was sad to miss the local "Hands Off!" protest, as many folks of my acquaintance attended them around the country. I applaud everyone who turned out for these important—and peaceful—protests, as Trump's executive power has gotten far enough out of hand to frighten to anyone who reveres the United States Constitution. MAGAts sure as hell don't, and it's way past time to see a change.

Cache In, Trash Out, Cooking Out, Chaos In

Geocaching is not solely about hunting hidden containers and scribbling your moniker on a log sheet. Geocaching is intended to be an environmentally friendly activity, so, in keeping with that concept, geocachers periodically get together at what's known as CITO ("Cache In, Trash Out") events, where the focus is on cleaning up litter.

This morning, friends Tom & Linda (a.k.a. Skyhawk63 & Punkins19) hosted a CITO event near their place in Browns Summit, NC, along a stretch of rural road that they adopted in honor of Tom's parents. Brugger and I got up early and headed down to the event ("Bud & Ann Memorial CITO 2024") where a fair number of cachers were just gathering. For the next hour and a half, we scoured a mile-long stretch of the roadway, which passes through a lovely section of forest along the Haw River. By the time we were done, one would have been hard-pressed to find a speck of trash along there with a magnifying glass.

To cap off the morning's work, Tom & Linda then hosted a lovely post-CITO cookout event ("Bud & Ann Memorial Post-CITO Cookout Event) at their place, with grilled burgers & chicken, killer tater salad, pasta salad, homemade brownies, cookies, and other such goodies. An awesome good time with great company. I do so appreciate the geocaching communities of the NC Triad and Triangle, for which there is considerable overlap. Alas, there's scarcely a remnant of the once-vibrant caching community in our area of Virginia, but at least we don't reside very far from our longtime friends and fellow cachers.

After the event, Ms. B. and I thought we might see about a glass of wine at the not-so-distant Grove Winery, but once we arrived, we discovered they were having a pretty massive event, so that plan didn't pan out. Instead, we trucked on over to one of Skyhawk63's newest caches near Reidsville, NC, which offered a bit of a challenge ("Arboreal Chaos," as it's rightly titled). Happily, I actually managed to make a quick find once at ground zero. If I hadn't been lucky enough to spy it from the angle I did, we might have been out there for some time.

Once back home, I went for one of my long walks around the neighborhood. It was necessary because that cookout food was really, really good.

National Peanut Butter Day CITO

Ranger Fox, Night Ranger, and 3EaglesHigh swap geocaching yarns at The Mellow Mushroom

I had no idea National Peanut Butter Day existed, but then I have no clue about most of these novelty calendar days. The only thing that actually distinguished National Peanut Butter Day around here was that geocaching buddy Night Ranger (a.k.a. Rich) sponsored a "National Peanut Butter Cache-in Trash-out (CITO)" event this evening in downtown Greensboro. It was misty and dreary, but that didn't stop eight of us from spending an hour or so cleaning up trash around a city block. We did have a pretty cool encounter with a dude: while we were scouring a small parking lot, the owner came out to see just what we were up to. When he learned we were a bunch of geocachers voluntarily picking up trash in the area, he about fell over with gratitude. It was nice to be appreciated.

Afterward, we appreciated some good drinks, pizza, and camaraderie at Mellow Mushroom on S. Elm Street. I don't think anyone put peanut butter on their pizza, and I'm kinda glad because that would have sucked.

Punkins19 (a.k.a Linda) and Skyhawk63 (a.k.a. Tom) all trashed out.

Night-Hawk (a.k.a. Tom) letting Punkins19 have it: "All I wanted was a hint. Was that too much to ask?
I actually had to find that cache all by myself!" Punkins19 appears unimpressed.

No Birthdays for Old Grumps

"It has been written since the beginning of time,
even unto these ancient stones, that evil supernatural
creatures exist in a world of darkness."

Per my personal tradition, I took my birthday off from work and went geocaching, among other things. Last night, I headed up to Martinsville for a nice birthday dinner with Mum, and then, bright and early this morning, took off for Fairy Stone Park to hunt a relatively new cache. I found the hide readily, but I also discovered a ton of trash scattered around ground zero, which is the barest remnant of an old stone foundation, for what was at one time a fairly sizable structure. It would be interesting to find out what the place was back in its day. In any event, being the ever-grumpy but always civic-minded geocacher, I went back to my car, grabbed a garbage bag from my stash, and spent about 20 minutes picking up litter. I filled up most of the bag and left the area about as close to pristine as it can be left, so that was my good birthday deed. (I hope no one expects any more today, as they are liable to be disappointed.) On the way home, not far down the road from Fairy Stone, there was a major traffic checkpoint, with numerous local sheriff's deputies and the Virginia State Patrol running license checks. A bit later, on my way back to Greensboro, I encountered another one one near Sandy Level, VA, on the backest of back roads. I gather someone did something bad, but this time, at least, I'm pretty sure it wasn't me.

The real bad ones are the human garbage that called my mom the other night, impersonating my daughter, claiming to be in trouble and needing money to be bailed out of jail. Apparently, the scam was uncannily convincing, for Mom would swear she was actually talking to my young 'un. If you have elderly relations, please, please warn them against believing such a story; these scammers hit you right where it counts, emotionally, and they're sophisticated enough to make a trusting person believe it's true. Here's a website that explains the scam in detail, and it matches down to the letter what happened to my mom: Grandparent Scam

Don't believe it. Not for an instant.

A portion of ancient Kadath showing just above ground?

Cache in, trash out.

Fox Den, CITO, and the One That Got Away

At least a couple of times a year, I get with a bunch of geocachers to help clean up an area that needs it — a "cache-in, trash-out" (CITO) event. Today's gathering took place on the Richmond & Danville Rail Trail, in Ringgold, VA, sponsored by Norman & Lynn "Spring1" Dillon. About 15 geocachers from all around Virginia and North Carolina showed up at the trail head at 10:00 AM, and within a few minutes, we had two separate groups attacking two different trail heads and working toward each other. A couple of hours later, there wasn't a speck of trash to be found between the trail heads at Ringgold Depot Rd. and Shawnee Rd. Done, done, and done.

Afterward, the lot of us converged on the Corner Cafe in Ringgold at a meet-and-greet event, sponsored by proprietors Keith and Laura McCoy. On Friday evenings, their dinner special is meatloaf, and they were kind enough to save me some because they know I'm ga-ga for the stuff. Really, it is the most awesomest meatloaf, anywhere, ever. Check it out for yourself, and you see if it's not.

Following that, I headed down through Caswell and Alamance Counties to the Shallow Ford trail system to pick up a relatively new hide and then over to the Haw River to check out an older cache. That one is actually meant to be accessed by boat, but when the water is low enough, you can get to it from the river bank. Today, however, the water was not even a little low, so I did not attempt to make my way out to ground zero, which is a couple of very cool, very old bridge supports. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to go after this one, and its nearby neighbor, the regulation way.

The big mean cache of the weekend was yesterday's... a new hide, called "Fox Den," in Greensboro that entailed crawling into a huge, hollow, fallen tree and snagging an ammo can placed some ten feet deep inside. There was a lot more to it than that, but I won't go into detail and give too much away. Mr. Rob "Robgso" Isenhour and I managed a nice first-to-find, occasionally in the pouring rain, late yesterday afternoon. Suffice it to say I came home wetter and filthier than I probably ever have from a caching trip.

Jumpin' Jehosaphat, the things some of us will do to get a smiley.

The CITO group after working over the Richmond & Danville Rail Trail in Ringgold, VA

Yep, there's a cache there, but without waders, I wasn't keen on attempting to ford the river.

Caching Crew and the Blustery Day

Up with the sun on this frigid and windy morning to get over to Ringgold, VA, northeast of Danville, where a group of about 25 geocachers set to work cleaning up the Shawnee Road trailhead for the Danville & Richmond rail trail. I'd been out there hiking and biking lately (Pastorale, Triskaphobia, Where the Hell Are the Undead?) and found that the trailhead had become a regular garbage dump. I'd decided it needed a touch of CITO (cache in, trash out), and the idea caught on with the Southside VA Geocachers' group. So this morning, a good hours' work turned the rubbish heap into a new, pristine bit of woodland, so that finding even a scrap of trash now might be quite the daunting challenge. There was a ton of it out there, to be sure—mostly unremarkable, but I did find an interesting bit: a pink suitcase full of porn. No, I shit you not. It was so waterlogged and heavy, it took two of us to haul it to sponsor Keith McCoy's truck.

Naturally, we're trusting Keith to do the right thing with it.

After the cleanup and a fine brunswick stew lunch at the McCoys' Corner Cafe in Ringgold, several of us set out to hunt a number of caches in the Danville area. A few highly creative hides out there, my favorite being one that involved some serious physical challenges (see pics and video below). Cold and windy out there, I gotta tell you. This, though, is what caching is all about. And all the folks who volunteered to spend a portion of their day improving a natural area are a credit to their respective communities.

Click on pics to enlarge.

Preparing to haul away the fruits of the morning's labor

Not for the faint of heart!

Also not for the faint of heart! Yep, there's a cache container up there.

After the cache has been replaced, it is determined that Damned Rodan must ascend
and make adjustments. Done and done.

The team of daredevils


Damned Rodan's ascent caught on video.

Cache In...Weeds Out

Geocaching Weed-Eaters

Geocaching isn't all just going after containers hidden in the woods and under light pole skirts. A fair part of the caching experience is to leave the environment better than we found it. Periodically, groups of cachers get together for Cache-In, Trash-Out (CITO) events, to clean up trash in locations that might be otherwise overlooked. Sometimes it's the woods around the local watershed lakes, or a community park, or a neglected trailhead. This afternoon, a number of us got together at the fairly new downtown Greensboro Greenway to do some cleanup, in coordination with the city parks and recreation department. Turns out, the landscaping at the site has about been overrun with weeds, so at the suggestion of the parks & recreation department folk, we ended up going a little greener than we had anticipated—we dug, pulled, and tossed a reasonably awesome amount of stubborn botanical pestilence. Afterward, the event's coordinator, Mr. Steven "Bear Oak Druid" Hinkle led us to a new, as-yet-unpublished cache for a first-to-find opportunity. Frankly, picking up trash is the easier job, but I gotta tell you—the greenway is now, unquestionably, a much finer shade of green.

Damned Rodan making a fancy tossed salad.