Tag Archives: 2022

Geocaching.com Drops Benchmarking

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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

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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 →

NoVAGO’s 2022 Fall Picnic

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The 2022 NoVAGO Fall Picnic & Auction was held last weekend on October 22, 2022 at Claude Moore Park in Sterling. It was a Community Celebration Event (extended due to the pandemic.) The weather was perfect for the event and a good time was had by all. Three new Adventure Labs popped in the park during the event: NOVAGO PAST – History of the Organization, by TrexM8s, a tribute to those before us. NOVAGO NOW, by ThompsonKickers, a wonderful introduction to the organization, playable all around its geographic range. NOVAGO FUTURE – Geocaching in the Space Age, by MrPsyduck, a fun, kid-friendly, fictional tour of the nearby museum grounds with future geocacher, Elroy Jetson in 2062. An easy puzzle cache, NOVAGO 2022 Fall Picnic Icebreaker, published in the park towards the end of the event. Those that completed the fun icebreaker activity got to skip the puzzle and find the cache … Continue reading →

Getting Permissions to Place Caches: Be a Good Neighbor

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Getting Permissions to Place Caches Be a Good Neighbor #NationalGoodNeighborDay (September 28) Did you know that one of the missions of the Northern Virginia Geocaching Organization is to promote local land use policies when placing their geocaches? Our local reviewers, YetAnotherReviewer and CardinalReviewer, help maintain a geocaching wiki page where you can find many of Virginia’s localities and their policies. Remember to always seek out permission when placing your caches. You can find that link here: https://wiki.groundspeak.com/display/GEO/Virginia … Continue reading →

SAVE THE DATE! NoVAGO Fall Picnic & Silent Auction

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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 →

Spotlight Cache: Book Nook

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#ReadABookDay (September 6) Need at book for Read a Book Day? There are many great book themed caches hidden around Northern Virginia. Today we are spotlighting Book Nook (GC68AD1) hidden inside a Little Free Library on a neighborhood street in Fairfax. When I visited this area in 2020, I remember passing at least three other Little Free Libraries on the way to this one. What makes this one special is that it has lots of books AND a fun hidden geocache. The hiding location might take a bit of looking because access is hidden so well, but for those that persevere will find a regular sized geocache filled with kid-friendly SWAG items. At time of publish, this cache has earned 85 favorite points. Well done and thanks to the cache owner, DPV1972 for the hide.Winner of 2015 NoVAGO Best Traditional. Congratulations! Luv4VA makes the find at Book Nook. … Continue reading →

Spotlight Cache: If You Want To Run With The Big Dogs… Greyhound

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#NationalDogDay (August 26) Its the dog days of summer and no better time to celebrate #NationalDogDay. Today we’re spotlighting a challenging multi-cache hidden in Clifton, Virginia. If You Want To Run With The Big Dogs… Greyhound (GC123T7) was hidden by BBQ back in 2007. Not only will finders get a well deserved block filled in on their D/T grid – this is a 3.5/4.5 – but they will also get to add their name to the log book of Northern Virginia’s elite. Here’s what some of its finders have said about it: “I’m still in shock after this cache and hoping to find the right number of beers to make the pain go away.”“We walked a total of 8.19 miles.”“Guess some people are just gluttons for punishment …”“This one seemed a lot easier on paper!”“I started out early and refreshed. However, the bluebells distracted me. I ended up taking lots … Continue reading →

Cryptozoology, or How we found Sasquatch

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First event in the 2022 NOVAGO U series was published earlier this week for the three teams to start competing. There was a fair bit of coordinating needed to get the maximum number of team members into the final photo. Submissions came in just under the deadline, with team DNF holding off until the very last few minutes. Team PAF had 14 team mates in their photos. Team DNF had 13 team mates in their photos. Team GPS had a whopping 19 members (the maximum limit) in their photo. For more on this series go the parent page: https://www.novago.org/wp/novago-university-2022-series/ … Continue reading →

New Locationless Geocache Available August 17, 2022

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New Locationless Geocache Available August 17, 2022 What is the coolest place that you never knew about but found because of geocaching? If there is a special place near you that you discovered in the search of a geocache, its time to share your find with the rest of the geocaching community world wide. August 17, 2022 through December 31, 2023, you can log this unique cache icon (GC9FAVE) by uploading a selfie at your favorite place along with a description of where it is and why you love it. Remember no spoilers if there is a geocache hidden there. Check out this Geocaching HQ article for more info: https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2022/08/share-your-favorite-local-geocaching-place-to-log-a-locationless-cache/?newsletter=PM   … Continue reading →

Spotlight Cache: Catnip Scramble

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#InternationalCatDay (August 8) Today we’re celebrating #InternationalCatDay by spotlighting this fun Letterbox Hybrid cache in Annandale. Catnip Scramble (GC8471C) was placed by CWillyPngn in 2019. In this fun walk through the park, geocachers will follow Jiji the black cat as he makes his way down trails, through tunnels, and even does a little waypoint projecting before finally getting to a regular sized container. Fans of Studio Ghibli films will immediately recognize this furry companion from the movie Kiki’s Delivery Service. Winner of 2019 NoVAGO Best Kids Cache AND Best Letterbox Hybrid. Congratulations! … Continue reading →