Fall Update From the President

Posted on by
Reply

Fall Update From the President The HighlightsCITOs: Three successful cleanups since September, with another on October 3.Fall Picnic & Auction: October 18, 11 AM–2 PM. Log your will-attend, bring a potluck item and auction donation, and come ready to bid!Volunteers: Auction help is still needed. Several other volunteer opportunities are coming up this fall.2027 NoVAGO Pathtag: Submit your design by Halloween.NoVAGO20: Our 20th-anniversary series is underway, with new caches appearing throughout the fall.Photo of the Month: October’s theme is Logbook Legacy.Officer Elections: December elections are approaching. If you’re considering a board role, now is the time to talk to the Elections Committee. Hello there NoVAGO!!! I’ve been feeling the fall excitement lately. Planting mums, watching the school’s homecoming parade, watching marching band, having an Oktoberfest brew, car shows, and a hot bowl of chili on a cool night. All these things are making up days and nights of my life … Continue reading →

Customize Your Flashtag with a NoVAGO Backing!

Reply

NoVAGO added to Flashtag Backside Library A big thank you to Dephogration for digitizing the artwork used for these Flashtags! If you enjoy collecting and trading unique geocaching items, Flashtags offer an affordable alternative to Pathtags, manufactured by the same U.S.-based company (pathtags.com). Since production is entirely in the U.S, there is a much faster production timeline, typically arriving within 1 to 3 weeks. The expand creativity options by allowing for unlimited colors and even photographic images in the design. Like any product, Flashtags come with a few trade-offs. Since they are essentially high-quality stickers, prolonged exposure to water can weaken the adhesive, particularly on designs with intricate cutouts where less surface area is available for attachment. To help protect them, the manufacturer now includes small storage baggies with each order. Flashtags are simply another fun option for trading and sharing within the community. They are not required for the … Continue reading →

NoVAGO 20th Anniversary Pathtag

Reply

Calling all NoVAGO cachers — it’s time for a Pathtag Contest! Help us celebrate NoVAGO ‘s 20th Anniversary (2007–2027) with a commemorative tag that reflects our community’s spirit. These special tags will be sold to raise funds, and we want YOU to help shape the design. Submit your design to pathtag.contest@novago.org. 📅 Entries due: October 31 📊 Voting: November 🎨 Production: December Design tips: Include NoVAGO and a 20th anniversary reference, and let your creativity run wild. Keep it simple — tiny tags need bold, clean art Mark the hole and important details Add notes if something needs explanation More ideas: https://www.pathtags.com/design Have an idea but not the graphic skills? Submit a rough sketch — we may be able to convert if it is selected as the winner. Even non‑winning designs can spark future creations. Show us what you’ve got! Previous NoVAGO Pathtags Printed dates on Pathtag.com 2014: Caching in … Continue reading →

NoVAGO Volunteer Profiles: 2027 Nominations and Elections Committee

Reply

Did you know that NoVAGO is 100% run by volunteers? They are ordinary geocachers who want to give a voice for the the wider geocaching community while supporting efforts in their own Northern Virginia area. To spotlight opportunities in the org, we are running a series of job profiles between now and our “Thanks Event,” the annual volunteer appreciation lunch in January. NoVAGO Volunteer Profiles: Nominations & Elections Committee Our annual officer elections take place during the month of December. A Nominations and Election Committee is formed to make the process run smoothly. This team will be accepting nomination for officer positions during the entire month of November. They will contact each person nominated to confirm their interest. In December they will create a ballot for any contested positions and will supervise an election. This committee is the first to know who will make up the officer slate in the … Continue reading →

NoVAGO Volunteer Profiles: 2027 Officers

Reply

Did you know that NoVAGO is 100% run by volunteers? They are ordinary geocachers who want to give a voice for the the wider geocaching community while supporting efforts in their own Northern Virginia area. To spotlight opportunities in the org, we are running a series of job profiles between now and our “Thanks Event,” the annual volunteer appreciation lunch in January. NoVAGO Volunteer Profiles: Officers Our annual officer elections take place during the month of December. A nominations and election committee is formed to make the process run smoothly. This team will be accepting nomination for officer positions during the entire month of November. Anyone wanting to self nominate may reach out to the committee. If you know someone who you think would be perfect for one of the jobs, you may also reach out. The committee will contact each person nominated to confirm their interest before they are … Continue reading →

2026 NoVAGO Silent Auction Donations Wanted!

Reply

 NoVAGO Silent Auction Donations Wanted!  Calling all geocachers! It’s time to help us stock the auction cache!  We’re looking for fun items for the upcoming NoVAGO Silent Auction — and they don’t have to be geocaching-related! Have something cool you’d like to donate? We’d love:  Gift cards Geocoins, pathtags & trackables Cool cache containers Geocaching gear Outdoor goodies Gift baskets Restaurant certificates Handmade items Experiences Or anything else someone would love to take home! New items are great, but creative and unique items are even better! Got something for us? Comment below or send me a message.  Your donations help support NoVAGO and make our silent auction a success. So check your closets, raid your SWAG stash, and help us fill the auction cache!  No muggles. No DNFs. Just great stuff and some friendly bidding!  More information about the NoVAGO Fall Auction: NoVAGO 2026 Fall Auction More information about the NoVAGO Fall Picnic and Silent Auction Event Event Cache Page: NoVAGO’s 2026 Fall Picnic and … Continue reading →

2026 Annual Fall Series: NoVAGO20

1

Theme: 20 Years of Gifts This post will be updated throughout the series. It’s NoVAGO’s 20th Anniversary! To celebrate, this year’s series — “20 Years of Gifts” — will be a showering of presents from the region’s most esteemed hiders, commemorating our organization’s past, present and future.  Team sedor18 is putting together this special geocaching run from September 2026 through January 2027. Reach out if you are interested in placing or hosting an event! How do we celebrate anniversaries? With gifts, of course. Caches will be placed representing the yearly anniversary gift — drawn from the Traditional, Modern, Flower, or Gem gift lists. In addition, there will be three events where we will celebrate our 20 years. The first will be a kickoff honoring the original hiders, cachers, and hides. Celebrate 20 Years of NoVAGO (GCBVR3M) held 9/13/26 The second will be a NoVAGO-region geocaching trivia contest with cache-related prizes. [TBA] … Continue reading →

Jasmer Challenge

Posted on by
Reply

Article written by: Gary [USMA77] A blog in geocaching.com titled “The Jasmer Challenge” calls it “[o]ne of the oldest and most popular geocaching challenges … To complete the challenge , you must fill your Jasmer grid by finding caches placed in every month since geocaching began in May 2000.”  This blog is an excellent summary of the Jasmer Challenge and goes into detail about how you can identify needed caches to compete missing months in your Jasmer Grid.  Check the blog out at HQ Blog: 2018-10, The Jasmer Challenge. You can find your Jasmer Grid, named  “Finds by hidden month”, in your Profile Stats in Project-GC (https://project-gc.com/Profile/ProfileStats). Here’s just a couple of observations about what makes the Jasmer Challenge so fun, interesting, … and challenging. As time marches on, there are fewer and fewer “oldies” or aged caches, placed between 2000 – 2004, still available to find.  These oldies are slowly being archived; never to … Continue reading →

Adoption of caches in National Park Service Geotours

Posted on by
Reply

Help keep these iconic Geotours going! Mark Neuberger (Deepdish23) has requested NoVAGO reach out to area cachers to find volunteers to adopt caches in the Geotours. The following is a letter from him providing some background. The National Park Service in the Mid-Atlantic Region played an important part in the creating of the Geotour.  The first two Geotours that existed were the Star-Spangled Banner Geotour in 2011 and the Captain John Smith Geotour in 2012.  In 2018, the NPS along with the Chesapeake Conservancy helped in establishing the Find Your Chesapeake Geotour.  These Geotours brought geocaching to places that never allowed geocaching previously and brought geocachers from around the world to the Mid-Atlantic region. With the retirement of Cindy Chance at the National Park Service a few years ago, there has not been a replacement at the NPS that is watching over the three Geotours.  Myself and Chris (Awesnap) along … Continue reading →

NoVAGO – How to Get Started with Geocaching

Posted on by
Reply

NoVAGO is excited to be part of the Handley Regional Library’s How‑To Fest! Join NoVAGO at our table for How to Get Started with Geocaching and a live presentation at 11:45 AM.📍 100 West Piccadilly St, Winchester, VA📅 Saturday, September 26🕙 Festival 10–1 | 🎤 Presentation 11:45–12:15If you’re curious about geocaching—or want to introduce a friend to the hobby—stop by and chat with us. We’d love to help you get started.2026 Handley Regional Library, How-To Fest! promoted on Facebook and Discord … Continue reading →