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.
Scroll down for this year’s ongoing caches and rules for placing your own game piece in the parks.
Big Creek Park
N 41° 37.108
W -81° 12.203
Start from the Deep Woods, Meyer Center, or Ruth Kennan Trail parking lot. A triangle of trails box in this cache. Falling water and tree woods are clues to their names. The other is blazed in blue and just a mere 1,400 miles long. Don’t look down or towards the sky; this cache is only yay high. It rests within arm’s reach in the crook of a multi-trunked tree.
Expires October 1, 2021
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
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
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
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
Holbrook Hollows
N 41° 26.782
W 081° 10.554
Follow the Old Ironsides Run Trail from the parking lot and lodge. Once you’ve passed both Timber Ridge Trail intersections and forded the stream, head north-northeast into the woods to the coordinates. This cache is hidden in the roots at the base of a tipped-over sycamore tree.
Please note: This park is open to the public while construction is still underway. Some maps of the park will include the proposed Bucktail Trail near this site. At the time this cache was placed, this trail had not yet been installed. Holbrook Hollows is still a work in progress, so your trail experience may vary as features are updated. Have fun exploring!
Expires June 1, 2020
Veterans Legacy Woods
N 41° 29.360
W 81° 10.970
Though the trail names be lacking
And there is no more good snacking
We thought you’d enjoy some fun geocaching
From the parking lot, follow the cart path
North toward the back nine
After crossing hill, dale and stream,
You’ll come to a tiny pond that’s fed by a seep
Head upstream into the thicket until you find
A tall, dead tree standing all by itself
You’ve found the cache location!
Expires April 1, 2020
Click here to download an application for placing your own cache, munzee or letterbox in a park.
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