3,000,000 Geocaches Await World’s Treasure Seekers

News provided by

Geocaching HQ

Apr 19, 2017, 08:00 ET


Seattle, WA (PRWEB) April 19, 2017 -- People of all ages now have at least 3 million reasons to go outside and discover new places and exciting treasures. On April 17, 2017, Planet Earth’s 3,000,000th active geocache was published on Geocaching.com.

Geocaching.com launched in 2000 with just 75 hidden geocaches. Since then, the game has exploded in popularity. Active geocaches are located in 191 of the world’s 193 countries. In total, geocachers have logged more than 572 million “Found it” logs on Geocaching.com, representing a mind-boggling amount of discovery and exploration.

To celebrate 3,000,000 geocaches, Geocaching.com is awarding a special digital souvenir to player profiles of anyone who finds a geocache during the weekend of April 22-23.

How Geocaching works:

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

Geocaches are cleverly hidden containers which come in all shapes and sizes. A more traditional geocache might be a watertight plastic container about the size of a bread box. But players also come up with more tricky ideas, such as fake pine cones or engineered gadget caches which may take more time to open.

Community members hide geocaches in their neighborhoods, and submit a listing with location coordinates and a cache description to Geocaching.com. Finders use the free Geocaching® app or a GPS to locate the hidden container, sign the logbook, trade trinkets and re-hide the geocache for others to find. They then share their experience through the app or online by posting a digital log and photos of their geocaching journey.

  • All geocaches are reviewed by community volunteers before publication to help ensure the new geocaches meet geocaching guidelines.
  • Geocaches are never buried.
  • Geocaches require landowner permission.

Geocaching Around The World:

  • Europe is the continent with the most active geocaches (1,529,668). Even Antarctica has 50 geocaches!
  • The United States has the most geocaches of any country (1,075,491).
  • The oldest active geocache in the world, published in May of 2000, is located near Mingo, Kansas.
  • Approximately 7 million people have geocached worldwide in the past year.
  • There are 302 community volunteer reviewers from 34 countries who publish geocaches that meet geocaching guidelines.

(While the bulk of geocaches are hidden on Planet Earth, there is even one on the International Space Station.)

About Geocaching HQ. Based in Seattle, Wa., Geocaching HQ was created to support the community-based activity of geocaching on Geocaching.com. Our 75+ employees develop innovative products and services that inspire discovery, exploration and adventure in more than 190 countries. Geocaching images are available for the media to download at http://www.geocaching.com/press/faq.aspx.

Chris Ronan, Geocaching HQ, http://www.geocaching.com, +1 (206) 588-7157, [email protected]