North York Moors National Park launches new geocache arts trail to celebrate Staithes' arts heritage

The trail, which has been created by the North York Moors National Park, chimes with how geocaching has become a worldwide phenomenon since it first began 25 years ago when treasure hunt enthusiasts started using the internet and GPS coordinates to find hidden caches.

In the National Park, there are now hundreds of these digital treasure hunt trails, including one in Staithes, where people can use the geocache app to navigate to each point before solving clues to discover the location of the caches.

These can be small boxes or canisters which are discreetly hidden from view, and contain a logbook and a stamp for proving that someone has discovered them.

The clues for the Staithes geocache arts trail, which can also be followed without the app by simply picking up a booklet from Staithes Museum, bring to life the artistic heritage, including links with one of the most influential female impressionist painters in the 20th Century, Dame Laura Knight, who joined an artists’ colony in the village.

Many of the caches are hidden close to the three dimensional wall murals that form part of the existing Staithes Illusion Trail, created by trompe l’oeil artist and resident Paul Czainski.

In Sandsend, another popular geocache trail has also been updated this spring, after it was first introduced in 2018, with five lino cut illustrations created by local artists used to create the stamps at each of the caches.

Georgia Tiffany, Community Engagement Officer for the North York Moors National Park, said: “People love a treasure hunt and geocaching is a fantastic way of engaging people, particularly youngsters, in a fun way that guides them round the National Park and helps them learn more about its heritage.

“It also helps them learn important skills for venturing out into the countryside, particularly using coordinates and map reading to navigate to a certain point.

"Geocaches have become so popular that we also hold geocaching events, the modern equivalent of orienteering, where people can pick up one of our handheld GPS units if they don’t have the app on their phone, and step out on a sociable treasure hunt adventure.”

Visit www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/geocacheartstrail for further information.