Two million active geocaches is a big deal. But at the end of the day, two million active geocaches is a number. It’s hard to even imagine. Here’s a little perspective on the magnitude of two million. It takes you more than four months to blink two million times. About two million babies will be born around the world this week. And students spend two million minutes to complete four years of high school classes in the United States.
Two million active geocaches though, means adventure is closer than ever. Active geocaches can be found in more than 180 countries. Those at Geocaching HQ in Seattle weigh in on the significance. Cathy Hornback at Geocaching HQ has more than 11,000 finds. She’s been geocaching under the username Prying Pandora since 2003. She says two million active geocaches takes Geocaching into the mainstream, “It means we’re no longer the biggest game that no one has heard about.”
Jenn Seva, MissJenn, at Geocaching HQ says congratulations goes to geocache hiders, “Thank you so much for those quirky gems and amazing locations. Thank you also to those who take the time to award Favorite Points so that it’s slightly easier to choose my destinations.” (You can thank a geocache hider by sharing this video)
MissJenn also helped power the worldwide geocaching volunteer community. Each of the two million active geocaches has volunteer reviewer fingerprints on them. Each geocache was individually reviewed. She says volunteers should take a moment to enjoy the milestone, “Being a steward of the game takes a lot of time and dedicated effort. Please take a moment to bask in a bit of the glory: beam with pride! Take a look at this awesome community that you have helped to create: one geocache at time, one forum thread at a time, and one translation at a time.”
Geocaching is now more than 12-years-old. Jon Stanley, Moun10Bike, has been geocaching since its infancy. He works at Geocaching HQ and says, “At the outset, I had no idea that this great game would ever get this big. When I placed Idaho’s first geocache back in 2000, there were less than 40 geocaches in existence, and I naively placed a hitchhiker in the geocache with the idea that it might someday visit every geocache in the world. Now we’re at two million. My hitchhiker, poor little Stash Hopper never had a chance!”
But Jon reminds us, “Remember, it’s not about the numbers! For this game to continue to thrive, we all need to become stewards of the game and push forward to new heights of creativity, cooperation, and commitment!” Well said.
