T-L Photo/KAILEY CARPINO Belmont County Tourism is hosting the Belmont County Bigfoot Geotour which will launch at 10 a.m. on Sept. 30 at Barkcamp Overlook Shelter.

BELMONT — Belmont County Tourism is hosting the Belmont County Bigfoot Geotour, which will launch at 10 a.m. on Sept. 30 at Barkcamp Overlook Shelter.

The event will be free to the public.

Before the tour begins, the organization will kick off the event with a Bigfoot Bash Pre-Launch Party from 6-8 p.m. Sept. 29 at Barkcamp Overlook Shelter. According to Belmont County Tourism’s Facebook page, attendees will have a chance to win prizes and hear from Jim Thompson, a Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization member who has investigated recently reported bigfoot sightings in Belmont County and Ohio.

According to the Belmont County Tourism Facebook page, Belmont County Tourism will be handing out “passports” starting at 9 a.m. at the shelter. Participants who complete their passport can redeem it for a trackable Belmont County Bigfoot geocaching coin.

“Geocaching is an outdoor scavenger hunt using GPS-enabled devices to locate hidden treasures in plain sight,” Belmont County Tourism Director Jackee Pugh said.

Pugh said that the event will be fun for everyone including families, sightseers, technology lovers and explorers.

Pugh said this is the third GeoTour that Belmont County Tourism has hosted.

“This one is a little bit different because of the theme. The cache containers will be in the woods with concrete footprints and sasquatch figurines. It’s a lot of fun,” she said.

Participants can visit geocaching.com or download the official Geocaching app to search for local geocaches. The website and app will provide participants with the GPS coordinates for each cache. The coordinates can be downloaded onto any GPS or mobile device.

Pugh said that the event will not close until the next geocaching event, meaning that participants have plenty of time to find the caches. She said that for previous GeoTours, some people have completed them in one day, and many others completed theirs in two days.

Pugh said that there will be over 20 caches for people to find, but they only need to find 20 to complete the tour. Belmont County Tourism will award the first 40 participants who complete the tour with a limited edition gold, trackable geocaching coin. Pugh said that everyone else who participates will receive a black geocaching coin.

Hampton Inn in St. Clairsville will offer geocachers a discounted rate for those spending the night after the Bigfoot Bash Pre-Launch Party on Sept. 29. Contact Hampton Inn at 740-312-1011 for more information about the discount or use the link on Belmont County Tourism’s Facebook page to book a room with the discount. Pugh said that the hotel will also serve as an official location to turn in the log codes for each cache.

Go to visitbelmontcounty.com or the Belmont County Tourism Facebook page for more information.