Did you know that you can use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver and navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (“geocaches” or “caches”) anywhere in the world? It’s a free, family-friendly, high-tech hide and seek! This outdoor treasure-hunting is even enjoyed right here in Geauga County, where naturalists hide a new cache each season for you to find in the parks.
WHAT TO FIND
ONGOING CACHES
Summer 2020
Whitlam Woods
N 41° 37.897
W -81° 11.363
Two trails you’ll need beneath your feet to find this tiny cache you seek. With step and stair, one travels down a valley where a bridge is found. No need to climb back up again; just make sure not to bump your head.
Expires July 1, 2021
Spring 2020
South Newbury Union Chapel
15829 Ravenna Rd, Burton, OH 44021
N 41° 26.296
W -81° 12.341
From the road, pull into Union Chapel’s gravel driveway. After about 200 feet, you’ll find a gravel parking lot behind a row of trees. There is room for about five or six cars in the lot. (Please keep to the gravel path and don’t park on the grass; you’ll probably become stuck in the mud!) To find the geocache, head east from the parking lot along the mowed path. You’ll pass a large, wooden bat colony house. Keep following the mowed path through a thorny thicket until you reach a clearing. The geocache is concealed beneath an old cherry log.
Expires January 1, 2021
Winter 2020
The West Woods
N 41° 27.523
W 81° 19.082
There are a few options for this cache, as you can start from various parking areas within The West Woods. Take the Affelder Link Trail or Pioneer Bridle Trail toward the interior of the park. There is a bridge crossing before the cache on both trails, unless approaching from the south on the bridle trail. Once you get to the Affelder and bridle trail connection, head northwest down a slope. You’ll need to be closer to Silver Creek than the trails to find this cache, so if there’s enough snow, consider borrowing a pair of snowshoes to help you reach it!
Expires January 1, 2021
Fall 2019
Russell Uplands Preserve
N 41° 27.391
W 81° 23.055
From the parking lot, follow any trail west to the intersection of all three trails at the western end of the park. (Each of the three routes is less than one mile.) There, follow the green blaze of the Diagonal Trace east to a low point (less than an eighth of a mile). Along the streambed to the south of the trail, you’ll find the cache hidden among the ruins of an old stone bridge!
Expires October 1, 2020
