Join Us at Our NoVAGO Annual Spring Picnic and 2018 NoVAGO Geocache Awards Event

On May 5, 2019 NoVAGO invites to you lend a hand, picnic with friends, and celebrate the 2018 NoVAGO Cache Awards in Loudoun!

Join us at 11:00 a.m. our annual Spring Picnic at Claude Moore Park Pavilion #1.  This shelter is not far from parking.  Just follow your nose to our location because NoVAGO will be grilling up hamburgers and hot dogs for all to enjoy.

NoVAGO 2019 Evento de Primavera del Cinco de Mayo

21544 Old Vestals Gap Rd
Sterling, VA 20164
May 5, 2019 from 11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Claude Moore Park Pavilion #1

A little after 1 p.m., we will start our 2018 NoVAGO Geocache Awards Presentation.  Every year NoVAGO celebrates the best geocaches, logs, and geocachers of Northern Virginia from 2018. Come cheer on the winners as they are announced.  Click on THIS LINK to see a list of nominated caches.

If you do choose to join us, we ask that you please bring a potluck dish to share. We hope to see you there!

NoVAGO’s 2018 Geocache Awards — Nominees

NoVAGO’s 2018 Geocache Awards

Listed below are the caches and cachers nominated by their peers for awards for 2018. Thanks very much to those of you who took the time to send in nominations!

Voting will begin April, and will remain open that entire month. Meanwhile, all curious and avid NoVAGO cachers (that’s you!) are encouraged to visit as many of the nominated caches as possible before voting. Here is a bookmark list of the nominated caches. Go get ’em!

Winners will be announced at the Spring Event on May 5th at Claude Moore Park in Sterling.

Without further ado, here are the nominees:

Best Theme/Series (three or more caches in a series or that share a common theme)
Planetary Pursuit by Awesnap (6 caches)
VA Craft Breweries by lwillie63 and Awesnap (9 caches)
Doggo Walking by frumiousb (9 caches)
Wordgames by zgrav (3 caches)
Hidden Creatures by BurkoCat (4 caches)
Girl Scout troop 854 by The girls of Girl Scout troop 854 (5 caches)

Best Kids Cache
MUSTCACHE! by MJBinski
SURVIVOR18: Suburbia by rlobecker
Four Numbers by rlobecker
WMBD: Ellie Returns to Lacey Woods Park by platoaddict
Terra Incognita by hrothroc

Most Outstanding Location/Scenery
Herding Herons by Serrabou
MUSTCACHE! by MJBinski
SURVIVOR 18: The Lost Road by freddiecrs
War Time Tagging Virtual by reedkickball
A Walk Around Green Springs Garden Park Virtual by Aronel
The Monkey Has Found A New Treehouse! by TheUnstealthy Monkey

Most Creative Cache
Four Numbers by rlobecker
SURVIVOR18: Lowering the Bar by 4EverYoungs
SURVIVOR18: Mayfield Earthwork Fort by Awesnap
SURVIVOR18: Merge | Chickahominy by Serrabou
SURVIVOR18: Suburbia by rlobecker
SURVIVOR18: The Boston Rob Conspiracy by Pengie123

Most Physically Challenging to Find
SURVIVOR18: Cockpit Point by Hooclass2002
SURVIVOR18: Purgatorio by zgrav
Intersection by flyingmoose
Herding Herons by Serrabou
SURVIVOR18: Tribal Council by ZippyFinn

Best Historical/Educational Cache
Robert E. Simon’s Town by schwandt
SURVIVOR18: Mayfield Earthwork Fort by Awesnap
War Time Tagging Virtual by reedkickball
SURVIVOR18: Culper Spy Ring by MJBinski
Alexandria, DC by stolaf

Best Camouflage
The Stamp Act by Awesnap
Not Nice by kiisikwa
SURVIVOR18: Tribes by ZippyFinn
The Day The World Became Real by Pengie123
SURVIVOR18: Mayfield Earthwork Fort by Awesnap

Best Multi-Stage Cache
SURVIVOR18: Suburbia by rlobecker
Herding Herons by Serrabou
This Library Cache Will Dewey Decimate You! by Awesnap
SURVIVOR18: Loftridge Tree Mail by SP4FUN
The Day The World Became Real by Pengie123

Best Mystery/Puzzle Cache
SURVIVOR18: Lowering the Bar by 4EverYoungs
Dr. Gaston Tuyau’s Hidden Research Notes by Nothereeither
Anniversary Cache, Two Become One by nondescript
Princess Talent Show at the Hall of Doom by Awesnap
SURVIVOR18: Culper Spy Ring by MJBinski

Best Traditional
Four Numbers by rlobecker
SURVIVOR 18: The Lost Road by freddiecrs
The Monkey Has Found A New Treehouse! by TheUnstealthy Monkey
SURVIVOR18: Puzzle Challenge by sassyinmyheart
I’m Still Standing by Dragon and Phoenix

Best Letterbox Hybrid
MUSTCACHE! by MJBinski
SURVIVOR18: Merge | Chickahominy by Serrabou
Calendar Man Stole Batman’s Magnifying Glass by Awesnap
SURVIVOR18: Tribes by ZippyFinn
WMBD: Ellie Returns to Lacey Woods Park by platoaddict

Best Other (Earthcache, Whereigo, Event, Virtual)
SURVIVOR18: Eating Challenge by ZippyFinn
BARROVIAN RHAPSODY EARTHCACHE by DePhogration
ehcacoeg esrever naelcm by platoaddict
Robert E. Simon’s Town by schwandt
War Time Tagging Virtual by reedkickball

Best CITO (Cache In, Trash Out)
“The Shoveler” Needs A CITO! by MJBinski
Mayfield Fort CITO IV by Awesnap
Cache Mob – Ramble around Lake Mercer- CITO + Hike by vpdj
3rd Annual Occoquan Paddle CITO by Hooclass2002
Occoquan Elementary School IV by Awesnap

 

Best Log
Cast your preliminary vote


Ode to the Barrovian Rhapsody by Nothereeither


Naked and Afraid by BlurryFac3


I Can’ Believe I Ate the Whole Thing by Awesnap


Left a Pencil by flyingmoose


Kraken Smackdown by Nothereeither


Survivor Roll Call by Serrabou


Snakes on a Plane..uh..Spaceship by GLM


I am She-ra! by ZippyFinn


Raising the Bar by zgrav


Beavis Lowers the Bar by ZippyFinn


Rhyme of the Troll by Serrabou


Unicorns Heart Jeff by TheUnstealthy Monkey


Best Photo

Cast your preliminary vote

Rookie of the Year
topazfae
Geocacher2372
T_N_C
Lissa30

Best Volunteer
ZippyFinn
rufnredy
DePhogration

Cacher of the Year
ZippyFinn
MJBinski
TheUnstealthy Monkey
Jess and Wipps
Awesnap

Cache of the Year
SURVIVOR18: Lowering the Bar by 4EverYoungs
Four Numbers by rlobecker
SURVIVOR18: Suburbia by rlobecker
SURVIVOR18: Mayfield Earthwork Fort by Awesnap
MUSTCACHE! by MJBinski
SURVIVOR18: Eating Challenge by ZippyFinn
The Day The World Became Real by Pengie123

Congratulations to all of the nominees! Cache owners of nominated caches, as well as nominated cachers and log-writers, can add this cool logo to their cache pages and/or profiles as they see fit:

<center><a href=https://www.novago.org/wp/novagos-2018-geocache-awards-nominees><img src=https://www.novago.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/NoVAGO-2018-Nominee-300x300.jpg></a> </center>

2018 Best Log: Preliminary Voting

The twelve logs below were each nominated as the Best Log for 2018. Cast your preliminary vote for your favorites to advance to the final round.

Read the nominated logs and then vote for up to four below

Instructions

  • Click the title or image to select a log (the background will turn green for selected items)
  • To deselect an option, click the title again (the background will turn white)
  • Cast your vote by clicking “Vote” [You will need to be logged in to vote. Login or register first!]

[totalpoll id=”3520″]

2018 Photo of the Year: Preliminary Voting

The thirteen photos below were each voted as the photo of the month during 2018 (one month had a tie). Now you can cast your preliminary vote for the 2018 Photo of the Year. The top vote-getters will advance to the final round.

Instructions

  • Click the image to view it larger
  • Click outside the image to return to the poll
  • Click the title to select a photo (the background will turn green for selected votes)
  • To deselect an option, click the title again (the background will turn white)
  • Cast your vote by clicking “Vote” [You will need to be logged in to vote. Login or register first!]

[totalpoll id=”3312″]

Redesigned website and user registration

Have you had a chance to check out NoVAGO’s website redesign? We’ve overhauled the appearance in an attempt to modernize its look and feel. We are also hoping to move away from the dated forums.
We hope that you’ll take a few minutes to look around and familiarize yourself with the layout and information available.

— The most recent post will be featured at the top center of the home page. Click to read the full post.

— The new layout will also suggest other posts for you to read.

— The left sidebar has a link to join our Slack workspace, a link to our Instagram feed, and popular tags from blog posts.

— The right sidebar has recent comments on blog posts, a countdown timer to upcoming NoVAGO events, and the calendar of events in the NoVAGO area.

Site registration

One of the new features we implemented on the site is user registration. At the top right of the home page (below the header image), is “Join NoVAGO/Login.” Select that menu to head to the registration site to create your account. Unfortunately, your login from the forums will not work here. We recommend using your geocaching.com username to make it easier to identify you.

Registering for the site does a number of things:

  1. Officially designates you as a NoVAGO member
  2. Gives you access to the Photo of the Month page to submit photos and vote on monthly polls
  3. Allows you to comment on blog posts

Site registration also helps us reduce the likelihood of spam in our comments and among our user registrations (have you ever looked at the users in the forums!?!?).

Feedback

We want to hear from you! What do you like? What do you think is missing? What improvements do you suggest? Post a comment here after registering 😉, join our Slack workspace, or contact us.

Let’s All Go to the NoVAGO Winter CITO! (The cold never bothered us anyway!)

 

NEW LOCATION! Join us on February 23 as we host a CITO in Locust Shade Park. NoVAGO continues to grow our relationship with Prince William Parks and the Prince William Soil & Water Conservation District to make our parks cleaner and community better.  We will meet in the parking lot where bags and supplies will be handed out.

NoVAGO Winter CITO: Locust Shade Park

Saturday, February 23, 2019

9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Locust Shade Park

701 Locust Shade Drive

Triangle, VA 22172

QUE3NBE3 is the Sole Survivor

After finding stunning caches stashed around NOVA, chomping through the funky feast, and competing with surprising cacher upstarts, it came down to the final three— SP4Fun, QUE3NBE3, and Minnestrone.

At the January 19 voting event, each of the three finalists answered questions from their former tribemates before the vote for who would claim the title of Sole Survivor.

As host Zippy Probst read the final votes during the event finale, the cache-a-ways watched with nail-biting anticipation…

…until QUE3NBE3 was announced as the winner of Survivor18.

Having started off as a member of the Mattaponi Tribe she seemed like a long shot to win because of her residence in the Old Line State. However, this Marylander ultimately proved she was “in it to win it” when she was one of the first to merge into the Chicahominy Tribe and then being one of the first two competitors to find the SURVIVOR18: Tribal Council cache.  Ultimately she won it all by outwitting, outplaying, and outcaching her fellow competitors.

QUE3NBE3, congratulations on being named Sole Survivor!