Tents Up!

A hard-working batch of geocachers and Mount Rainier Volunteers gathered together today in the Longmire Campground for the annual spring cleanup and installation of five platform tents which serve as temporary housing for volunteers throughout the summer months. The event was officially billed at Geocaching.com as a "CITO" (Cache In, Trash Out) and was the seventh annual gathering of this type at this location. The work went smoothly. Participants ranged in age from pre-school kids to senior citizens, each contributing their best efforts to the project. Go, Volunteers!

The Volunteer Program is hoping to enlist a second cleanup team to remove storm debris next weekend. Stay tuned to this blog for updates, and if you're interested in participating, please contact Kevin via Kevin_Bacher@nps.gov for more details.

Many Hands Make Light Work

For a sixth year, a small, dedicated group of geocachers got together with Park staff on June 9 to erect tents in the Longmire Campground for use by summer volunteers. This project has been plagued by a number of issues in the past, anything from late-lying snow needing to be shoveled away to parts having gone missing. This year was no exception as we discovered that the canvas tents had shrunk so radically that in a couple of cases, the poles did not fit. The good news is that the poles have now been shortened and standardized, and next year's "CITO the Mountain" should be the easiest one yet!