Nominees for NOVAGO’s 2022 Geocache Awards

Nominees for NOVAGO’s 2022 Geocache Awards Thanks to all those who took the time to send in nominations. While not all nominations were able to make the final cut, we were impressed with every suggestion. The hardworking awards committee have compiled the caches on this list from the very best of 2022. We invite all geocachers to go out and find as many of these wonderful caches as possible. For a geocaching friendly list, CLICK HERE. Click Here to Vote Voting is scheduled to be open for ALL categories April 1-15, 2023. Winners will be announced at our NoVAGO 2023 Spring Picnic and Awards Event on May 6, 2023. Details of the event are in another post. Without further ado, here are the nominees: Best Traditional Cache Gods of Fairfax – Apollo (GC9VQ57) by Djglitterbunz Kindness Rocks TB Hotel (GC9RXFB) by HyperactiveGirl TB Hotel The Green Lodge (GC9K3ZN) by TheWanderesss … Continue reading

Cache Awards Nominations are Coming!

Coming Soon: 2022 NoVAGO Awards Nominations! NoVAGO cachers, put your nominating caps on! In the next few days, NoVAGO will open nominations to recognize caches published in Northern Virginia during 2022 and to recognize cacher contributions during the year. Nominations will be accepted for a couple of weeks, you will have a few weeks to visit the nominees that you have not found yet, and then a couple of weeks to cast your ballots. Winners will be announced at the NoVAGO Spring Picnic. So, start reviewing your Favorites lists for the past year and be prepared to nominate caches in categories that will include physically challenging hides, devious hides, beautiful locations, nice hikes, and various types, including Adventure Labs. You can also nominate rookies, cachers and volunteers for their accomplishments. We will publish a link on the NoVAGO site and the NoVAGO Facebook pages. This link will take you to … Continue reading

Meet the New Board & Thank the Volunteers

Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization is pleased to announce the 2023 board of officers and directors. PRESIDENT – ThompsonKickers VICE PRESIDENT – TheWanderesss SECRETARY – TrexM8s TREASURER – freddiecrs PUPLIC RELATIONS – hrothroc DIRECTORS – DePhogration, CherokeeThree, Pfenix, TheColdedge Every year, we host an event to let you meet our new officers (most of them will be there.) We also use this gathering to thank our outgoing board members, as well as volunteers who have helped make NoVAGO great in the previous year. If you’ve hosted an event in the Northern Virginia area in 2022, we thank you. Special thanks to Nothereeither, Effstop, Zippyfinn, Serrabou, Rufnredy, Awesnap, and most of the people listed above who are staying on from last year. 2022 Thanks! Event (GCA2WX8) January 22, 2023, 2:00-4:00 pm Santini’s New York Style Deli3980 Corsair CtChantilly, VA 20151 … Continue reading

Voting Open for 2023 NoVAGO Officers

VOTING OPEN FOR 2023 NoVAGO Officers Last month we asked our membership to nominate volunteers to fill the officer positions for the 2023 board. You can read that article with the job descriptions by CLICKING HERE. You can also find a link to our By-Laws here. [This post has been updated from a previous version, no longer on the site. If you voted before December 8th, your first vote was deleted and you may vote again in this new election.] The office of president is the only contested position this year. Please read a little about each candidate in the drop menu below before heading to the voting form. Christopher G. “Awesnap” Christopher G. “Awesnap” I have been a member of NoVAGO for 10 years. Any current or previous positions held in NoVAGO? Director (2014 & 2020) and Public Relations Officer (2016-2019 & 2021) When asked if I was interested … Continue reading

Geocaching.com Drops Benchmarking

Geocaching.com Drops Benchmarking Geocaching HQ made an announcement on October 17, 2022 that they will be dropping Benchmarking from the website. As part of their page updates, all logs will be removed. Owners who wish to save this information should do so as soon as possible. In addition, all challenge caches that require benchmark finds will be archived. Benchmark finds will stay in user statistics, so that others can know that you logged some before they were gone. The official announcement was hidden in the release notes within the forums. You can read it it here. Geocaching HQ is recommending that users who wish to continue logging benchmarks do so by moving to their sister site, Waymarking.com So, why the change? The code is old and will be too burdensome to update to make it work with the rest of the site. Honestly, it has been on borrowed time for … Continue reading

Accepting Nominations for 2023 NoVAGO Officers

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN! All the events and activities you enjoy throughout the year are the result of a very dedicated team, also known as your board! Nominations for the 2023 slate of officers will be open for the month of November followed by voting in December! NoVAGO’s Officer Corps consists of these five positions: PresidentVice PresidentSecretaryTreasurerPublic Relations Read the descriptions below to see what is involved. You can find the official descriptions in the NoVAGO By-laws. Currently serving Officers are listed in our About NoVAGO section. Nominations will close on November 30, 2022, at which point any necessary ballots will be assembled and shared for voting in December (dates for voting TBD.) You may nominate yourself or someone you think will be awesome for one of these positions. If you are nominating someone else, we ask that you talk to that person beforehand, but our 2022 Nomination & Election Committee … Continue reading

SAVE THE DATE! NoVAGO Fall Picnic & Silent Auction

SAVE THE DATE! NoVAGO Fall Picnic & Silent Auction Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization invites you to join our fall picnic. In addition to eating burgers, hot dogs, and potluck sides, there will lots of opportunities to meet nice folks and trade geocaching stories. This is also the time for our annual silent auction. Where: Claude Moore Park – Pavilion 2, 21668 Heritage Farm Lane, Sterling, Virginia When: Saturday, October 22, 2022, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm Silent Auction: 12 -2:00 pm (payment and removal of items no later than 2:30pm, please) Please RSVP on the Event Page. Annual NoVAGO Silent Auction The silent auction is NoVAGO’s primary fundraiser event of the year. We ask member to bring items to contribute to the auction by the start of the auction at noon (12pm). Please be generous with your items. Don’t have anything to donate? Consider donating your time or expertise. In … Continue reading

NoVAGO-U

Northern Virginia Geocaching Organizing Announces its 2022 Fall Series: NoVAGO-University Join a team! Find geocaches! Compete in fun contests to earn points for your team. Members might remember our club’s Survivor series, or our more recent pandemic boredom busting Olympics. The newest games are a college themed challenges, where members compete to earn point for their Greek house (toga’s may or may not be optional.) Two Kick-off Events, August 14, 2022 9:30-10:30 AM – Sterling (GC9THP1)   &   12:30-1:30 PM – Lorton (GC9WD00) The kick-off events will be an opportunity to meet potential team mates and pledge together on a first-come-first-serve basis for one of three houses. It’s also a great time to ask questions. Attendance is not required to participate. You may contact ZippyFinn or Serrabou if you would like to be added to a team at any time through November. If you are new to NoVAGO and would … Continue reading

Status

SAVE THE DATE! NoVAGO Spring Picnic & Awards

Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization invites you to join our spring picnic. In addition to eating burgers, hot dogs, and potluck sides, there will lots of opportunities to meet nice folks and trade geocaching stories. The award winners for the 2021 Best of NoVAGO will be announced at the picnic as well.  Where: Mason District Park – Pavilion A, 6621 Columbia Pike, Annandale, Virginia When: Sunday, May 1, 2022, 11:00 am – 3:00 pm Please RSVP on the Event Page.   We’re having a Community Celebration! This year when you attend the NoVAGO spring picnic, you will earn a Community Celebration attribute as well as a Blue Switch Day souvenir.