GCTYHG Midland Trail CITO Sunday 4/23

During my event back in February, there were some who asked for a Sunday clean-up event instead of on Saturday, the main day. So I set up this event for Sunday, the day after Earth Day - but still the same weekend.
The event started at noon at a local resturant. We had maybe a dozen people.
Then at the park we had about 16-20 people.
I was talking with one of the other geocachers about having a contest for the event - and he talked about hiding a special piece of trash. I liked the idea, but went a little further. I made up icons - of the geocaching clean up 'CITO' icon. I printed out about 12 to a page - 4 pages. I wrote different values on the back of each paper: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20. Then I taped the papers to bits of trash. Most of them were on soda cans I brought home from work. But I attached a few more on other trash already on the trail and on a few objects on the trail. Unluckily, I did not get to the trail ahead of time. So instead I set up while everyone was meeting up and driving to the end of the trail. I finished taping on the cans, got my bike out of the car, and headed down the trail. I had put the gear needed for the clean-up in the back of my wife's car. I had fun littering my way up the trail - tossing cans every few hundred feet.
I stopped a few times to tape up icons on spots. As I was about 5 mintues away, my wife calls and asks about the trash bags. Talk about a moment of panic. Then I remembered they were in a cardboard box in a bin. I finished up and got to the head end of the trail right on time at 2:00pm. I saw a few people already gathered around. Then I looked up the street and saw a huge number of people heading our way. I was amazed at the fantastic turnout.
I wound up staying behind cleaning up the trail head. Most of the group went ahead. Just one or 2 others stayed to help. There was a huge amount of cigarette butts to clean up there. After a while I headed off. My wife decided to drive back with our youngest. The other 2 boys had headed off with the group. I had a large amount of water bottles, extra bags, and hand cleaner. So I figured that I should try to catch up.
I caught up with a small group of 4 who were really doing a good job cleaning. I stayed with them for a while. Then my middle son showed up, leading another group heading back for cars. I was surprised to see him without my eldest. But I didn't make a big deal of it. I was glad to have him along. We worked our way up the trail, doing some more cleaning. I had a few of the icons left, so I seeded a few for the follow-up group. After a while, I decided it would be good to get to the end of the trail. I got back to the pavillion at 3:29pm. One minute ahead of schedule. Someone was playfully complaining about how long I took - so I playfully retorted that I was one minute early, and if they hadn't been in a rush, they would have been right with me :)
There was some car pooling back - I stayed with the boys and visited a bit more with other geocahers.
I was feeling a little guilty about being a little behind schedule getting everything set (again - happened at my first event too) - but the people at lunch said I was the most organized that they knew. That was a nice compliment.

GCTYHG Midland Trail CITO Sunday 4/23 CITO 2.0/1.0 MrWitzAbout Mrs.WitzAbout Pirate #1 #2 #3 Attended log: April 23, 2006 by WitzAbout

The whole WitzAbout crew attended - and hosted :) It was a fantastic turn out - and a wonderful effort! Thanks everyone who turned up to help with the clean up! This should put us in a much better place with the parks department - we have shown them very nicely how we give back to the community! Looking at the logs entries so far, see all the thanks - you are most welcome! I was glad to see so many I've met show up and was really glad to meet some new faces too! As always, there is never enough time to visit and talk geocaching - but I was happy to have a chance to talk with some of you. I really big thanks to those who hung back and scoured the trail for as much trash as they could! I was really proud of the extra effort you put into getting the trail really clean. I also have to add an extra thanks to Mrs.WitzAbout for helping me get everything done - she was fantastic! 5:39 Mr.WitzAbout - I will be posting pictures from this event to this log now :)

Meeting at the Park's Pavilion Large Group Heading up 21st for the CITO Getting ready to clean Lagging behind - clean trail Cleaning the Trail, Pikes Peak in the Distance 79 Degrees, Not a Bearing - Warm Day! Mr.WitzAbout Lugging Water and Supplies Pirate #2 wanted to take some pictures - so I have a picture of myself to add to the gallery :) Post Event, Back at the Park Post Event Group Picture 1 - Not as Good Geocaching Group CITO in Colorado Springs CITO cleanup Midland Trail to America the Beautiful Park in downtown Colorado Springs - Generating Plant and Cheyenne Mountain as our backdrop Main pile from clean up at the end Geocachers, Post Event Time