Best CITO yet

I haven't attended many CITO events, but the one I just went to will be hard to beat. A Knoxville area cacher posted a CITO on the Holston River, a 16 mile float/paddle. It wasn't just a CITO of course, he was also going to be checking on a few of his caches he placed along the river 4 years ago, and that have never been found. I had noticed these caches a while ago, when looking for unfound caches in the area. I was amazed that no one had tried them, but it was easy to see how they might not be there, and the trip would not be "worth it" from a geocaching perspective. This is just another example of how becoming an avid geocacher warps your thinking: a day out floating down a scenic river becomes less desirable if there aren't caches to be found. Crazy.

Well, I was interested in going, for the unfound caches, for the CITO event, and for an excuse to ahve a river adventure. I haven't been in a canoe or kayak for extended period of time since high school, and had never really done a trip of this magnitude before. Sounded like fun. The river itself wouldn't be too challenging, we would be going with the current, there were no rapids or portages, the weather was going to be perfect. The only worry was it was a heckava long distance.

I managed to borrow a tiny one man kayak from our neighbors, and stuffed it inside the CR-V. I showed up near the CITO coords early because I had dropped off my in-laws that morning at dark-thirty in the morning. Getting their early allowed me time to find a few local caches, and then unload my boat and get all geared up. The only other cachers that showed were the CO and his girlfriend, Psyprof and Cynwood. Not a huge turnout but smaller groups are good for long voyages like this.

By 8:45 AM we were launched and paddling to our first cache. We landed our boats, searched for a bit until the CO deemed it missing, then set about making a new hide. This process took longer than you might expect, the boat landings were wither muddy, steep or in some other way treacherous. Then searching among poison-ivy vines, and other flood flotsam took a while. Finally, Psyprof finding a suitable hide and getting a good way point took a while too. All in all, we spent probably a half hour or more at each of our stops. And we made plenty of them. After the first cache was replaced, we would paddle down the river for a bout a mile, then make another stop. Of the 6 geocaches Psyprof had placed 4 years ago, we only found one of them. Making a lasting hide on a river bank is no small feat. I wonder if his new hides will last longer? It was already well past lunch after we finished these geocaches, but we ate lunch in our boats to try to gain some time, and kept on paddling.

The lower half of the river was cache free, so Psyprof remedied that by putting out a new cache every mile or so. I even got into the game, as we stumbled cross a fabulous cave right on the river. The cave had double-decker entrances, with the upper entrance being accessed by a tied-in-place roof-frame and knotted rope. Both the bottom and upper cave went back further than we dared go since they required crawling on your hands and knees to get into. I will have to see if I can find a land access route to the cave and come back with suitable clothes and flashlights.

By the time we reached our final destination, the sun had already dropped below the horizon and it was dark. A long day of paddling, but I couldn't have asked for a better adventure. The river was serene and almost devoid of people. We passed only 6 boats the entire float, and only one person along the bank. There was also very little trash. Here we were prepared to haul out a bunch of trash and we couldn't find hardly a piece. Either through flooding, or jsut good stewardship, this river is pretty darn clean. Amazing. I only wished I had a better camera with me. I was using a Gear Pro waterproof camera, which dies halfway through the trip. Oh well, the memories will be good regardless.