Wow — this is a lot of canisters, log sheets and trackables.

Geocaching.com, the database of record for the worldwide geocaching community, is poised to reach a major milestone in a matter of days: 2 million active geocaches.

The online service, maintained by Seattle-based Groundspeak, expects to cross the 2 million mark sometime this Saturday, Feb. 23.

The milestone reflects the exponential growth of geocaching, an increasingly popular recreational activity in which people use GPS technology and mobile apps to find hidden caches around the world. Geocaching.com started with 75 geocaches in 2000 and reached 1 million in March of 2010.

Groundspeak is marking the milestone with a countdown timer on Geocaching.com, a video (above) showing the global growth of the geocaching phenomenon, and, of course, an infographic. One of the more impressive factoids: “If someone transported around the world finding a geocache every second, it would now take more than 23 days to find all the geocaches hidden in world.”

If you’ve never tried geocaching, you might be wondering, what’s the point? It’s basically about the challenge, and the fun. Geocachers leave objects for one another to find, along with log books and trackable items that sometimes come with a designated destination. It has become a popular activity in my own family over the past year or so. With 2 million geocaches out there, it’s tough to find a part of the world that doesn’t have one.

Also check our earlier video tour of Groundspeak headquarters in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.

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