Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Barstow, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Barstow and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Barstow
- Astronomy & Satellites ...
- Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
- To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Barstow:
- 34.886107, -117.012212
- Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
- The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Barstow
- Bird Watching ...
- We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
- The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected San Bernardino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for San Bernardino County
- Waymarking ...
- Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Barstow ...
We found seven communities that share the name Barstow.
There is one other community in California which is also named Barstow.
Beyond California, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Located In California ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Ontario
- Texas
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Barstow ...
As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.
- Gale
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Grandview
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Harvard
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the east) - Helendale
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helendale
- Helendale is located in San Bernardino County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Helendale <4>
- Hodge
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest) - Mace ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Minneola
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east) - Wild Crossing
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wild Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Crossing
- Wild Crossing is located in San Bernardino County
How Far From Barstow to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Barstow to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Barstow and extending to:
- San Bernardino, which is the Seat of San Bernardino County, lies 56 miles [90.1 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Barstow to San Bernardino, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 355 miles [571.3 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 14 days and walking would take 21 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,207 miles [3,551.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 87 days and walking would take 126 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,486 miles [12,047.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,254 miles [13,283.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,238 miles [10,039.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Barstow: www.barstowca.org/
The official website for San Bernardino County: www.sbcounty.gov/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Barstow) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Barstow. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 34.8861, Longitude: -117.0122 |
| <2> | If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer. Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name. Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time. Also keep in mind that Barstow could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out. |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day. |
| <6> | The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Barstow to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.341 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 335.109 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.928 degrees. |