NoVA’s Most Wanted Geocaches

After our trip to the DC area got off to a rough start due to problems on the Red Line (and everyone who has ever lived in DC has just shook their heads in agreement), we returned to Reston and gathered our bearings. Instead of the virtual geocache crawl we had planned for the District of Columbia, over a comforting bowl of pho, we crafted a new plan: to “free cache” the best caches in Northern Virginia, in the area we were in. Spoiler: I think it turned out better this way, anyway.

To alleviate the frustrations our first stop was to chow down. We found a non-described pho place near the Metro station. Chris had never tried pho and I had never met a bowl of pho that I didn’t like so we took this perfect opportunity to try it out. Besides, you can’t get pho in Morgantown. Things like this are exactly why we love to visit “the big city.” The restaurant was quiet and the staff was attentive, it was the respite needed after the frazzling experience of Metro. After our bellies were full we started hopping between the nearest highly rated caches.

Despite our new outlook on the day, we didn’t get off to a great start. Mart of Many Nations managed to stump us. We’re normally old pros at parking lot geocaches but from the previous logs we thought we might be in for a little more of a challenge. So if you’ve found this one before, hints are appreciated. Normally failing to find the first cache of the day is a bad omen, but we decided to try a second.

There seem to be some standard “unique” caches, these are caches that you’ll maybe find one of in a region, but if you’ve cached in multiple regions you’ll see them again. This was the case 2 foot cache, we had seen one just like it in Airway Heights, Washington. But given that I was going to very crankily give up caching for the day otherwise, it was a happy and comforting find in front of the Home Depot. I love it when cache owners go to such great lengths to repurpose basic items as geocaches.

Next, we headed out the Manassas National Battlefield to “Rally behind the Virginians.” Firstly, we’re used to the Civil War sites in West Virginia, which are very often very close to as they were during the conflict. In fact, one site, Camp Allegheny is truly so close to how it was that it is difficult to reach by passenger car (you need the ground clearance!) and there was staunch opposition when a wind power generation facility was to be put up within the view-shed. Other sites, like Laurel Mountain (site of the Battle of Laurel Hill) and Cheat Summit Fort retain most of their Civil War-era characteristics with only a few suggestions of modern times here and there. But in Manassas, there are piles of non-descript homes and businesses that really encroach into the area of the battlefield. It’s a very different feeling than you get when you visit the sites in West Virginia. Though there is no question, if you visit Manassas, that Stonewall Jackson was ripped. That is not something you get a sense of when you visit his boyhood home, in what is new Lewis County, West Virginia.

Stonewall Jackson riding on at the Manassas National Battlefield Park

Very close to Manassas we also found The Iron Goose. Compared to the rippling muscles of Stonewall Jackson and the fact we had found a very similar, though now archived, cache in Huntington, West Virginia this sneaky find didn’t really seem terribly remarkable. But when you’re seeking out the very best, it’s all shades of awesome.

We went driving around to seek out the next cache, a virtual cache at a modest memorial to those who lost their lives in 911, 911 Memorial. It’d been threatening to rain most of the day. We thought we would be able to avoid it, but as we pulled up the memorial to log the cache and pay our respect the rain came pouring down. It added some interesting perspective to the location and, once dried off, was almost appreciated. This cache truly provided us with a five-sense experience.

A five-sense experience at this somber 911 Memorial

The final find of the day, also in the rain, was one of the cornerstones of the District of Columbia. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting to find the DC Cornerstone this in a sleepy neighborhood a few blocks away from the old downtown of Falls Church, Virginia. Originally, the District of Columbia was a ten-mile by ten-mile allocation that looks like a cube tipped on one point, incorporating lands belonging both to Maryland and Virginia. However, during the Civil War, Virginia took its part of the DC allocation back and it is now Arlington.

We logged five finds, which is pretty good given the quality of the geocaches and the delay in getting to the geocaching part of the day. Northern Virginia is a wonderful place that has a unique combination of fascinating history, delicious restaurants, and just enough southern hospitality that you know you’re not in Maryland anymore. We look forward, as always, to our next trip!