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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 6, 2013 23:58:27 GMT -9
We've got something in the works here in Homer for some CITO. Stay tuned for dates. Also, let this thread be used as a place to start the convo about times/places for any other CITO events over Earth Day weekend.
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 7, 2013 7:55:43 GMT -9
Earth Day is generally too early to do CITO in most parts of AK, so we usually roll out CITO sometime in May. GeocacheAlaska! holds 3 CITO events in Girdwood every summer for the Adopt-A-Highway program. Last year they were on May 5, July 15, and Sept 23.
I've intended to try and coordinate a CITO event in the Soldotna-Kenai area. I think we owe it to ourselves to "pay back" both Soldotna and Kenai Parks & Rec departments for their support of geocaching and allowing us to hold events in their park facilities. The problem is, I can never seem to get the local cachers motivated to show up to "working" or "learning" type events.
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Post by ladybugkids on Mar 7, 2013 10:34:27 GMT -9
The 11th Annual Cache In Trash Out Weekend is scheduled for April 20 and 21, 2013. Earth Day is April 22.
I believe Fuzzybelly is working with the Chugach National Forest rangers in Girdwood to host a CITO in the area that weekend because the snow melts out early down there.
Contact Fuzzybelly and Polgera to coordinate activites and prizes.
We do need to order 2013 CITO bling from Groundspeak.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 7, 2013 15:20:51 GMT -9
The 11th Annual Cache In Trash Out Weekend is scheduled for April 20 and 21, 2013. Earth Day is April 22. I believe Fuzzybelly is working with the Chugach National Forest rangers in Girdwood to host a CITO in the area that weekend because the snow melts out early down there. Contact Fuzzybelly and Polgera to coordinate activites and prizes. We do need to order 2013 CITO bling from Groundspeak. Beaches love cleanups. I believe that will be our focus come April 20-22. We've got some partnerships with 2 local organizations that do marine debris and city-wide cleanups in Homer. So, I think we'll go for it down here. I'll work on some partnerships and possible enticements to get people to make the trek to the end of the road. HOWL in Homer does a cleanup starting on April 29, and it goes for a week. There might be a way to link in with that. Also, the Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies is always looking for people to get involved with their beach walks and marine debris cleanups. Perhaps membership won't be in strong attendance, but there will certainly be some outreach opportunities for me to unleash on the masses about GeocacheAlaska! and Geocaching.com. Maybe that will guilt some folks into realizing how much fun can be had at non-flashmob events!
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 7, 2013 15:39:59 GMT -9
Good thinking. Spring is my silly season at work, so I'll be on lock down practically from March 26 through May 8. So, middle May could be a potential date range to play with in my area.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 7, 2013 22:54:20 GMT -9
Good thinking. Spring is my silly season at work, so I'll be on lock down practically from March 26 through May 8. So, middle May could be a potential date range to play with in my area. Ha, we could have a "Hobo CITO Series" and just walk the CITO events right up the Sterling to the Seward to Anchorage and on up. Start April 20 in Homer, finish at the gate to Denali by the end of the summer. Walk the whole thing, camp by the side of the road every night...a big quit yer job and hike the highway geocacher party! But seriously, I'll get to coordinating with orgs here in Homer, and would love to work on linking together some CITO activities to keep the momentum into the other annual events. Perhaps push the July CITO along the adopted section to around the weekend of Forest Fair, and we might be able to get a bump in attendance. I did the old Champoeg Event/CITO in Oregon when it was a big old beast of a party. That was a pretty neat way to start getting cachers together for 2 days of events and some great fun in between. There was a partnership with Oregon state parks for the CITO activities. So, even if it ends up just being the Board and some other committed-to-the-cause folks that show, we'd make a big enough scene to get people interested for the next year if we had a blast doing a campout and cleanup with the Chugach, Kenai or Soldotna folks. Crap, my gears are turning...steam is pouring out of my ears... Must mean I should get to bed before I have too big of dreams about some crazy event (ouch)
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 8, 2013 9:28:12 GMT -9
I kinda like the way you're thinking... though it is a little scary. A 3-day weekend? I haven't heard anything about our Girdwood CITO schedule for this summer. But I can imagine something around a Friday start in Homer with a CITO and then a campout, then rolling up the highway to Soldotna for a 2nd CITO and maybe on to Cooper Landing for the next campout location, and finally hitting Girdwood for a Sunday CITO culminating with a BBQ or something. Not too huge and it's something that many folks could participate in, in part or in the whole thing.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 18:02:07 GMT -9
I kinda like the way you're thinking... though it is a little scary. A 3-day weekend? I haven't heard anything about our Girdwood CITO schedule for this summer. But I can imagine something around a Friday start in Homer with a CITO and then a campout, then rolling up the highway to Soldotna for a 2nd CITO and maybe on to Cooper Landing for the next campout location, and finally hitting Girdwood for a Sunday CITO culminating with a BBQ or something. Not too huge and it's something that many folks could participate in, in part or in the whole thing. This is getting scary... But, it can happen. We could even keep camp at the same site, but move the CITO from site to site (within reasonable distance of camp, of course) To start planning, we'd need: -a block of sites reserved in proximity of eachother -permission from the campground manager -CITO sites to be determined -partner org/agencies identified and contacted -Event coordinators -Activity brainstorming -Beer. I'll get started on the last one...
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Post by ladybugkids on Mar 8, 2013 19:07:07 GMT -9
Well, then, you should at least use this emoticon, , or this one .
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Post by NorthWes on Mar 8, 2013 20:34:45 GMT -9
Just dispose of those beer cans in a CITO approved fashion...
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 8, 2013 20:49:42 GMT -9
Cans? A real beer drinker never uses cans! And an environmentally conscious beer drinker would go to St. Elias and fill up their personal, reusable Growler.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 21:54:51 GMT -9
Cans? A real beer drinker never uses cans! And an environmentally conscious beer drinker would go to St. Elias and fill up their personal, reusable Growler. And I'll cover the growlers from Homer Brewing. Now we're getting somewhere!
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 21:57:38 GMT -9
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 8, 2013 21:58:10 GMT -9
All this beer talk has me thinking about a trip to Fat Olives. Is that wrong?
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 21:59:24 GMT -9
Not one bit wrong. Plus, I believe there are some new caches in the queue here in Homer...and I didn't hide them!
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 8, 2013 22:15:45 GMT -9
OK, I'm not sure exactly how that happened, but somewhere in the admin functions NS's previous post was consumed while trying to edit one of my own. Sorry about that!!! Your post was asking something about where we can go camping... let me try again....
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 8, 2013 22:19:38 GMT -9
Soldotna area has Centennial and Swiftwater campgrounds. They'll be empty in May.
Cooper Landing has the Russian River campground, also empty in May (and prolly still under snow).
Not sure what we have in the Girdwood area???
And what do we have in Homer, besides the beach on the Spit?
Other ideas?
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 22:22:38 GMT -9
I hope it tasted delicious.
I said that we need to 1) Find a campground that could work as a camp for the CITO/Event weekend that a) would allow us to use the site as our camp, and b) be able to let us get a block of adjacent sites reserved.
Something to that effect. I know that the Champoeg events were reserved about 9 months in advance, but I wonder which campgrounds (private, city, state, federal or improvised) would suit this idea and make it possible to host a shindig like this.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 22:26:40 GMT -9
Homer has the city campground, and I don't know for sure when it opens. It can be semi-weird with teens coming in to "play", but the city is great about putting an end to any issues. The campground itself might be a good place to start a CITO event, and/or we can host something at Islands And Ocean for another meet-n-greet.
The only consideration will be for the Shorebird Festival in Homer. It is on the weekend of May 10-12. Pretty busy for me to coordinate anything for that weekend. But, possible that I'll have another event lined up with GPS activities related to what we're doing with the festival.
Centennial might be a good spot. Lots of sites, and a handful of arms that are semi-isolated from other parts and sites.
These gears are turning!
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 8, 2013 22:27:50 GMT -9
Isn't the spot where they hold Forest Fest in Girdwood also home to a campground?
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Post by ladybugkids on Mar 9, 2013 5:18:47 GMT -9
All this beer talk has me thinking about a trip to Fat Olives. Is that wrong? Mmmm...Fat Olives. Even the junior ladybugs enjoyed the food there while we dried out from a misty morning at Bishops Beach. Isn't the spot where they hold Forest Fest in Girdwood also home to a campground? The Williwaw Campground in Portage is much nicer and Fuzzybelly has been actively fostering the relationship with the Chugach National Forest Rangers. However, if this discussion is about camping in May, I think that campground will still be under several feet of snow and recommend the Bird Creek Campground if it's going to be reopened this year.
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Post by ladybugkids on Mar 9, 2013 5:57:00 GMT -9
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 9, 2013 8:39:44 GMT -9
Good idea. I love Hidden Lake and it has a great campground.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 9, 2013 12:32:56 GMT -9
I could certainly check with folks there about a partnership. It's a little less coordination effort if we base it out of Homer, but perhaps with Joat and me tag-teaming the effort, we could get something rolling with the USFWS folks at the Kenai Refuge. I would agree that, if we are going to make it a multi-day, we should find a great centrally-located campground that can handle us, and the assured late nights around the campfire. Williwaw might be a good one, but I wonder about snow cover there in May. I'm also guessing that it would be easier to try and get a host campground interested in us reserving a block of sites before Memorial Day, and certainly during times that won't be interfering with fishing season. (I know my summer weekends are going to be mostly fishing-related!)
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 9, 2013 12:35:41 GMT -9
If we do a state park-coordinated cleanup, then I vote for Anchor River. Nice spot, and we can even do a river cleanup prior to fishing season: Grab all the line we find on the ground, pick up trash, etc.
Are we trying to plan an annual camp out and Event, or a roving one from year to year? Or...many events and camp outs?
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 9, 2013 14:27:05 GMT -9
Plan anything we want. Maybe we can get the event committee involved as they finalize their membership (still in the works). So you're thinking about a single point base camp where the folks range out each day to a new CITO site and then return to that site. Sounds like a lot of driving if we're spreading this from Homer to Girdwood. My thought was more along the lines of meeting in Homer on Friday afternoon or evening with maybe a dinner gathering (like Fat Olives ) and then descending upon a camping site to pitch some tents and have campfire talk. The next morning, we get up and break camp (CITO the camp area) and then go to the first formal CITO event site in the mid-morning. Following that CITO event, we start the road trip up the highway. It's 1.5 hours to Soldotna where we meet at the 2nd CITO event for the early afternoon. Following that one, we dinner up somewhere in the area (like St. Elias ) and then proceed to Saturday night's camp site. That could be in the Soldotna area, or we could push an hour up the road and hit someplace near Cooper Landing such as Hidden Lake or Russian River or Quartz Creek. Again, Sunday morning we're up and B-Fast and break camp and mini-CITO our camp site (unless we stay at the site we intend to hold the CITO event). Then we're off to the mid-morning CITO site for Sunday and get that spot cleaned up. Mid-day is the road trip up to Girdwood where we meet up for the final CITO of our highway project zone in the early afternoon. At this point, we should all be cold, wet, tired, smelly, and hungry enough to start meandering back toward our respective residences and hot showers (stopping for a cache or two along the way, of course). With all of that, you have the potential for a kick-off flash mob event Friday, 2 formal CITO events on Saturday and then 2 formal CITO events on Sunday for a total of 5 smilies plus any caches in between. For the CITO sites, you pick a park in Homer. For Soldotna I'd look at Soldotna Creek Park as my 1st choice, but would talk to Andrew at P&R to get their opinion on a good park that needs it. For Sunday I think Hidden Lake would be a great spot, with the Russian River campground coming in 2nd. Note that a lot of stuff between Sterling and Portage is closed until Memorial Day weekend, so if we're targeting mid-May we'll be limited on access to several sites.
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Post by NeverSummer on Mar 9, 2013 15:15:35 GMT -9
Gotcha. If we're doing the Hobos's CITO, then we'd certainly want to do a plan like you've outlined.
If we are just looking for a Event and CITO weekend campout, then we could try to plan a fun weekend of camping, CITO and camaraderie with a single site. Think [campsite to be chosen] arrival on Friday, CITO event for [municipality/agency of our choosing] in the morning nearby, an evening event for potluck dinner and fun, and a breakfast/wrap-up event on Sunday morning.
Either way, it would be a hoot, and I'd love to try to make it happen.
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Post by akgh519 on Mar 9, 2013 15:33:00 GMT -9
Darn A reason to go back to Homer
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 11, 2013 5:35:15 GMT -9
Let's work on getting this pinned down over the next week or two. First thing... let's pick a weekend. May 10-12 or May 17-19? Snow should be in rapid recession during that time, so the later weekend might ensure we have more of a clear path to the trash. Being the weekend prior to Memorial Day, it sounds like an ideal place to slip in and clear out a winter's trash before the onslaught of summer visitation begins a week later.
In either case, I envision an evening Flash Mob kick-off somewhere in Homer on Friday evening, maybe 6pm or so. We'll need to have a group camping area pre-arranged. And then we'll need a specific CITO target location for Saturday morning from maybe 9-11am. All of that will be up to NS for coordination.
Following that we hit the highway and roll up to Soldotna. Figuring in lunch break and park-n-grabs along the way, I figure we should allow about 3 hours with the Soldotna site CITO kicking off at 2pm and running a couple hours. I'll work on getting the site selected after I talk to the P&R manager.
And then I can make a visit to the NWR HQ and talk to them about Hidden Lake Campground if we want to pursue that route. Just remember that NWR is an anti-cache agency. So, we could see this as extending our hand with the hope of planting a positive seed that could eventually grow into an Earthcache series on Skilak Loop (great wish on my part and certainly an uphill battle to get there). Or we can go with an agency that is already cache friendly to show our appreciation for their management practices. That would steer us toward the Russian River Campground. I would think that either case can get us a free camping site in exchange for the CITO project if sold correctly, but we'll see what kind of deal can be made.
At any rate, that will determine our Hobo camp location for Saturday night. I know we can get free reign of Centennial or Swiftwater campgrounds out of Soldotna P&R, but that puts us behind the travel curve on Sunday. So being up in the Cooper Landing region makes more sense. Get up on Sunday morning and have a CITO at or near our camping area from about 9-11am. Hit the transfer site in Cooper Landing with the waste and hit the road up to Girdwood. If we're out of Cooper Landing shortly after 11am we'll be into Girdwood about Noon.
This is where we'll need an organizer to step up from Anchorage to handle the Adopt-A-Highway CITO. Based on the roving CITO group, we'd want a late start on this one and figure kicking it off at 1pm. After that last couple hours of cleaning, we'll end it up with some kind of fuzzy-fun in the parking lot before cutting loose for free caching all the way back to the Peninsula.
Show of hands for, "let's do this!"...
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Post by SSO JOAT on Mar 11, 2013 6:03:22 GMT -9
To summarize our to do list, based on my scenario above...
Secure Friday night flash mob (dinner) site in Homer Secure group camping site in Homer Select CITO site in Homer Select CITO site in Soldotna Secure group camping site in Cooper Landing Select CITO site in Cooper Landing Get a local host to run existing CITO site in Girdwood Solicit prizes
Additional thought on our typical end-of-event door prizes...
At each CITO site, there should be a door prize drawing amongst the attendees for a couple inexpensive bling items (such as CITO travel tags). I expect that there will be some local attendance at each location that doesn't travel the whole thing, so they should have a chance to win something.
At the final CITO location, we should have some extra bling to give out. For those who Hobo with us, they get to enter a ticket into the hat for every CITO site they attended over the weekend. So, if you do the whole thing, you get to put 4 tickets in the pot (in addition to having been in the individual drawings at each of the 3 previous sites). Just a little incentive bonus for taking on the whole weekend, though I expect the number of people who actually participate in the whole route will be fairly low. But we could be pleasantly surprised and have a dirty dozen or more. Who knows?
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