MARTINS FERRY — Those looking for a fun activity to do while also social distancing during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic may want to try the Belmont County GeoTour.

Organized by Belmont County Tourism, the GeoTour takes people on a hunt of sorts for 25 different locations across Belmont County.

It is slated to officially kick off at 9 a.m. Aug. 14.

“It allows a player to go on a treasure hunt in our area. There are 25 geocaches hidden across Belmont County,” said Brooke Robinson, digital marketing manager for the tourism group. “There is a code for each geocache.”

Robinson said the geocache app can be downloaded at www.geocaching.com. The tourism group’s caches are inside small boxes with the tourism logo. Inside there is a small trinket for people to swap out for something else they bring to the site, along with the code they need to write on their guidebook.

Once players receive all the codes they can mail the form into the tourism office or bring it in person. Players will receive a free Explore More GeoTour T-shirt.

The tour book can be downloaded at www.visitbelmontcounty.com/geocaching. The tourism office is located inside the Ohio Valley Mall and open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Its mailing address is 67800 Mall Ring Road, Unit 485, St. Clairsville, OH 43950.

Some of the sites mentioned include: the Sedgwick House Museum in Martins Ferry, the Watt Center in Barnesville and the Newlin Falls Nature Trail in St. Clairsville.

“Geocaching is a hide and seek game with objects,” Robinson said. “With the restrictions of COVID-19 we thought this would be a great social distancing activity. It’s available 24/7 so check it out.”

Though the game has not officially launched, people who already enjoy geocaching have found the tourism group’s cache boxes.

“Over 150 participants found our caches,” Robinson added.