No, Steven is not a geocacher, but he could have found some good ones if he took his trip today. He grew up in nearby Bethel OH (just SE of where you are).
Within a few months of graduating from Ohio University (1972), Newman started working (at $150 a week) as a reporter for the Casper Star-Tribune, Wyoming’s largest newspaper. After a couple years he quit the newspaper (now at a salary of around $180 a week) to pursue freelance writing and to prepare for a goal he had had since he was nine — a walk around the world and document his encounters with the various cultures. After five years of prep that included strenuous hikes and camping in the West, saving $25,000 from roustabouting on small drilling rigs, poring over hundreds of topographical maps in the Casper, Wyoming and New York City, New York public libraries, and visiting embassies in Washington, DC, he returned to Bethel to begin what would eventually be officially recognized as the first documented solo walk around the world.
The trail you are on is the longest in the State of Ohio park system (33 miles) and is named in his honor.