Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization

Give Back to Caching

Dave — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:09:38 +0000

As we are working our way into June, we are in need of volunteers to hold Geocaching 101 classes and walk around assisting while the students test their new skills. In addition to class help, NoVAGO needs all kinds of volunteers to support our ongoing community efforts and quarterly events. Are you good at Organizing? Speaking? Heavy Labor? Finding Caches? We can use each and every one of you and your talents.

To this end, we have scheduled NoVAGO’s Spring Volunteer Fair on Sunday May 19th. We will be demonstrating how easy it is to give the Geocaching 101 class (you know how to cache so you know all of this stuff already). We will be looking for some much needed help and will be talking about opportunities to assist making caching more fun for everyone.

Come by the Reston Library (11925 Bowman Towne Drive) on Sunday afternoon between 3:30-5:00 to learn more and pick up a smilie! See http://coord.info/GC4BDDA for more information. No worries, you will not be pressured to volunteer but you may just hear about something you are interested in doing.

The classes are really a lot of fun to do and provide a chance to give something back to the community and the sport we all love . We will have a list of classes and locations available and hope to fill some spots during the afternoon.

Please mark your calendar and try to attend Sunday afternoon and help us to help you and the community.

Looking forward to seeing a lot of folks …

PS … These classes also provide an opportunity for volunteer hours that may be required by school, scouts, or other organizations …

Some Random Thoughts …

Dave — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:27:17 +0000

Spring is here … weather is warming up and the various critters that have been sleeping are now stirring and becoming more active ..

Was on the Eastern Shore this weekend and moved a rock to find a little snake … BE CAREFUL … we have had a couple of poisonous snake bites in the last couple years and surely do not need any more …

Along those lines, the poison ivy is starting up its activity … if you don’t know what it looks like google it and read up … Spring is a time when tender leaves and stalks are tender and if you break one you may well be affected …

And of course … several ticks were spotted this weekend … be aware of them and make sure you do thorough tick checks when you return from a caching trip … those itsy bitsy ones are especially hard to spot …

Enjoy the weather and get out before it gets too hot
But be aware and be careful …

Voting is Underway

Dave — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:07:24 +0000

It is that time again … time to voice your preferences for the best NoVAGO caches of the year.
After receiving and sorting through uncounted emails, we have accumulated a list of the top nominations.

I hold in my hand the envelopes. As a child of four can plainly see, these envelopes have been hermetically sealed. They’ve been kept in a #2 mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnall’s porch since noon today. No one knows the contents of these envelopes. It is now time to reveal the contents of the envelopes and begin the voting process.

The voting will be tabulated through surveymonkey.
The link to the ballot is: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QJ8YSWP

PLEASE take the time to vote and let your voices be heard.

There were a lot of great caches placed last year and they all deserve recognition,
but only the few will be named best in category based on your votes.

Winners will be announced at the Spring Event on April 20th.

Good luck to all the nominees … and may the best caches win …

Spring has Sprung

Dave — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 19:52:50 +0000

And that means loads of events and chances to get out and meet and socialize with other cachers.

There are so many things are happening in the next few weeks …

We have another CITO event scheduled this month in Sugarland Run. CITO’s are a great opportunity to show our appreciation for the parks and those who allow us to place caches in them. Please come out and lend a hand, it is really is a good time and a lot of fun wandering the woods with a bunch of other cachers. Ask those who volunteered their time at Beaverdam Reservoir last weekend ..

Events for March include:

and all the regularly scheduled local events
Please check the calendar to see everything in the area. There is a LOT going on …

And a SNEAK PREVIEW to get you thinking about it …

Coming in April ….

CITO Day Cleanup and the NoVAGO Spring Event and Pot Luck …
Mark your Calendars …

4/20 2013 NoVAGO … Celebrate Spring at Claude Moore by NoVAGO | GC45VT8 | Virginia
4/20 NoVAGO 2013 CITO at Claude Moore by NoVAGO and Friends | GC45MBZ | Virginia

Finally …

We are still looking for a few volunteers to help out at the Gulf Branch Nature Center Class on April 13th. If you can give a couple hours to help lead some new cachers around, please let us know.

Happy February ;)

Dave — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 20:17:51 +0000

Well, January has come and gone and we welcomed in February with an awesome event.
Lots of folks braved the cold and attended NoVAGO’s Winter Event Groundhog Day at Glen Carlyn.
Big Thanks to Nemo Consequentia and In2Mud for placing caches and to Schwandt and DerekTiffany for bringing in the donuts and drinks.

The new caches include a must do multi Nemo created in under a week. Loved the hike, stages, and little twists and turns along the way. It has been NoVAGO member recommended and is on the bookmark list already ..

VOLUNTEERS

All, we need help .. We are looking for people willing to take a couple hours out of a weekend day to teach or assist at a geocaching 101 class. Currently NoVAGO has been asked to support a dozen classes this spring and summer and we need to start planning staff involvement.

These classes are a great way to give back to the community that has allowed our caches to be placed and given us so many hours of enjoyment out on the trails.

Another benefit is if you have High School age kids who are in need of volunteer hours, this is a great chance to participate and log hours. NoVAGO is a non-profit and the classes we are supporting are local nature center and library sponsored events. The hours given can help on that college application or scouting rank you may be working for …

PLEASE PLEASE consider helping out … and let one of the officers know if you can even for only one class …

For the Presenters, powerpoint presentations will be available so there is very little prep work other than looking it over before the class … if you like speaking in front of people or wished you had a chance to improve your communications skills here it is

If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions … please contact myself or one of the officers …

dave

Winter Event Updates – Please Read

Dave — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 11:42:22 +0000

Good Morning Everyone … Hope you are all enjoying the snow … brings back memories of last week in Northern Norway building a radome in between snow falls

After some discussion, and considering we only have 9 will attends so far, we have changed the event to follow in the tradition of the winter events of the last couple years and made it doughnuts and hot drinks. NoVAGO will supply coffee, tea, hot chocolate and doughnuts. If there is something special you would like to add to the list, you are more than welcome, but nothing is required …

The rest of the page pretty much remained the same … the schedule was modified some as there will be no big potluck this time out …

We hope you are not too disappointed, but in the big picture … as the web page mentions, there are a boat load of caches in the area and this would be a perfect time to make some new friends and team up with others from the event and get out and grab a few (or a bunch) afterward …

Looking forward to seeing everyone. Have a great weekend.

dave

PS If you are really distressed by all this, feel free to come to my 4th Thursday event on the 31st at Cheeburger Cheeburger in Ashburn and let me and the other officers know how you feel. (shameless plug)

Volunteers Needed

Dave — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:07:31 +0000

It is that time of year again. Various groups throughout the area are planning their summer schedules and we have received several requests for geocaching classes. We are looking for volunteers to help out.

Generally speaking the classes will consist of a short presentation on geocaching and, for most, a short trip into the local wilds looking for caches. NoVAGO has several presentations in hand from previous classes and we are looking to update them before all the classes start, so there is very little prep work to be done. A typical class lasts around 2 hours anad could be any time of day or day of week.

What we need are speakers to give the presentation and a few helpers to accompany the students on a cache hunt. The bottom line is we need YOU, whatever level of support you are comfortable with. As classes come up, we will contact volunteers to check their availability and provide details. By signing up in the forum, you are not committing to anything, we just want to know who might be interested in helping.

We need your help whether you have 1,000 finds or 50 finds.
This is an excellent chance to give something back to the hobby we love.

Just a hint of what’s already been requested:
Loudoun County Library’s Teen Program
Arlington Nature Centers – Long Branch and Gulf Branch Centers
Walter Reed Senior Center in Arlington
and ???

The first class is Sunday, February 10th 2-3:30pm at Long Branch Nature Center
There is a topic in the Volunteer Forum area for this class, and we have no responses so far …
Please consider helping out and add your name to the list …

dave

Looking Ahead …

Dave — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:42:36 +0000

Well, hope everyone is over the holidays and back into the swing of things.

Lots happening in NoVAGO. Trying to set up the winter event, looking into a couple requests for assistance in Geocaching Classes, and generally trying to stir the pot.

Winter event – I have been looking for an inside venue and have not had much luck. I did get a suggestion that maybe one of the communities has a community center we could use for a nominal fee of course … Just don’t know which one ..That is where YOU come in … If you have a center that may be available early February, please let me know and we will look into it.

Classes – We have had a couple requests so far for support in Geocaching Classes. If you are interested, your time permitting of course, and can help out with teaching, helping explain GPS operation, leading small groups around looking for caches or just providing moral support, please post your availability in the “NoVAGO Volunteers” topic in the forums. Putting your name in implies no commitment only that you are interested if you are available … Looks like lots of opportunities to give something back to the community this year and we are looking forward to helping out …

Events – Check out the calendar, we are trying to keep it up with all the upcoming events … several are scheduled in the next week or two. Look forward to seeing you at one or more …

Suggestions – We are always looking for new ideas and suggestions on how to do things better. If you have something you would like to see implemented or changed, please let us know. the best ideas come from you the members …

Cache on …
dave

Happy New Year …

Dave — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 16:22:45 +0000

Just wanted to say a few words to kick things off. This will probably be the only time you will get a “few” words out of me

First, I would like to thank the outgoing Officers and Directors for all their work in the past year. We have come a long way this year with many new members and milestones galore.

I would ask everyone to welcome in the new Officers for 2013:

President             rufnredy
Vice President       Schwandt
Secretary                 WVKiwi
Treasurer                 KanukGirl
Public Relations   Nicole and Jim

We are all looking forward to a great year and much success.

Part of our plan is to have a number of events throughout the area.
The first is GC42XH3 Thanks! We want to invite everyone to attend this Thursday evening. It is a chance to thank the outgoing officers for a job well done and to meet the new officers who will lead NoVAGO through 2013. Please mark your calendar and attend. It is guaranteed to be a fun time.

We look forward to seeing everyone at the event and many more to come.

Please watch this space for more announcements and event dates.

Cache on …
dave

Welcome to the 2013 Officers!

robert — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 14:45:30 +0000

The votes are in and tallied, let’s give a warm welcome to your new 2013 NoVAGO Officers!

President – rufnredy
Vice President - Schwandt
Secretary - WVKiwi
Public Relations - nicole_and_jim
Treasurer - KanukGirl

There is a discussion thread here for you to welcome them.