Destination Seneca County is launching a new countywide trail this weekend that pairs local pizza and ice cream stops with a geocaching hunt, giving residents and visitors two ways to explore the area and earn prizes along the way.

The Scoops & Slices Trail officially kicks off Saturday, July 11, with two events open to the public. A geocaching information session runs from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, hosted in partnership with Cachers Anonymous and built for both first-time and experienced geocachers. Destination Seneca County staff will also be on hand from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Tiffin-Seneca Farmers Market to help people sign up for the free digital trail pass.

How the trail works

Participants sign up for a free digital pass, then choose between two tracks — or complete both. The Foodie Trail sends people to participating pizza shops and ice cream stops, where a minimum $5-per-person purchase and a QR code check-in count toward a prize. The Geocaching Trail sends people hunting for 30 hidden caches placed around the county, each scanned through a Bandwango QR code inside.

The two tracks work differently on the back end. Business check-ins earn points toward the trail’s hat prize, while geocache finds do not earn points at all — instead, the system automatically unlocks a bonus prize location once a participant logs 25 cache finds.

What you can win

Visiting five participating businesses, with the $5-per-person minimum purchase at each, earns participants the trail’s official Skippy Hat, named for the trail’s mascot. Multiple people can split a single purchase and still qualify individually, as long as each person’s share meets the $5 minimum and each has their own pass.

On the geocaching side, finding 25 of the 30 hidden caches — each named for a pizza or ice cream flavor, from “Pepperoni” to “Rocky Road” — earns participants a trackable, collectible Scoops & Slices Geocoin. Both prizes are claimed through the digital pass and picked up at the Hampton Inn of Tiffin.

Where to go

The Foodie Trail includes 27 businesses across seven Seneca County communities:

  • Attica: Smitty’s Pizza

  • Bascom: Bascom Stumble Inn; I.C. Treats -N- Things

  • Bloomville: Rose Marie’s Eats & Treats

  • Fostoria: Domino’s Pizza Fostoria; Fostoria Pizza Palace; J B Twisters Ice Cream & Things; Jac & Do’s Fostoria; Marco’s Pizza – Fostoria; Red’s Pizza

  • New Riegel: Left Field; New Riegel Cafe

  • Republic: Fat Head’s Family Restaurant

  • Tiffin: Big Dipper Ice Cream and More; Big Mike’s; Domino’s Pizza Tiffin; Fort Ball Pizza Palace (North and South locations); FroZone Frozen Yogurt; Heavenly Pizza; Jac & Do’s Pizza; Jolly’s Drive In; Little Hugo’s; Marco’s Pizza – Tiffin; Napoli Pizza; Reino’s Pizza & Pasta; Shake Shak of Tiffin

Other details

The trail pass itself is free. The only required costs are the $5-per-person minimum purchases at Foodie Trail stops; a Geocaching Premium membership is optional and only needed for those who also want to log finds in the official Geocaching app.

People without smartphone access can request a paper passport at the Destination Seneca County Welcome Center, 96 S. Washington St. in downtown Tiffin. Business visits on the paper passport must be verified by an employee signature, and geocache finds are verified with a secret word found inside each cache.

Separately, the Hampton Inn of Tiffin is offering trail participants 15% off a stay, subject to room availability, for anyone who tells the front desk they’re completing the Scoops & Slices Trail.

More information, including sign-up for the free digital pass, is available through Destination Seneca County’s trails and passes page.