Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Willits, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Willits and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Willits
- 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 Willits:
- 39.408909, -123.353418
- 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 Willits
- 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 Mendocino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Mendocino County
- Since Willits is near Lake County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
- eBird sighting report for Lake 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 Willits ...
We found two communities that share the name Willits.
Within California, the name Willits is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Iowa
- North Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Willits ...
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.
- Arnold
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north) - De Camp
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north) - Fair Oaks
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the south) - Hearst
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Longvale
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north) - Ridge
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Shake City
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shake City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shake City
- Shake City is located in Mendocino County
- Soda Springs
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
- Soda Springs is located in Mendocino County
How Far From Willits 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 Willits to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Willits and extending to:
- Ukiah, which is the Seat of Mendocino County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<4> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Willits to Ukiah, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,452 miles [3,946.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 96 days and walking would take 140 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,325 miles [11,788.4 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 8,090 miles [13,019.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,168 miles [9,926.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Willits: www.willits.org/
The official website for Mendocino County: www.co.mendocino.ca.us/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Willits, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Willits 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Willits) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Willits. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4089, Longitude: -123.3534 |
| <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 Willits 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 341.156 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.375 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.744 degrees. |