Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Alto, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alto and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Alto
- 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 Alto:
- 31.620567, -110.875570
- 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 Alto
- 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 Santa Cruz County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Santa Cruz County
- Since Alto is near Pima County and also Cochise County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Pima County
- eBird sighting report for Cochise 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 Alto ...
We found eighteen communities that share the name Alto.
Within Arizona, the name Alto is unique.
Beyond Arizona, we know of another eighteen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Florida
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Louisiana
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- South Dakota
- Codington County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Alto [Codington County].
- Hughes County
- This Alto is located in Hughes County and lies 1,052 miles [1,693 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Alto that is located in Santa Cruz County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hughes County community of Alto.
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alto ...
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.
- Casa Blanca ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Casa Blanca. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Casa Blanca
- Casa Blanca is located in Santa Cruz County
- Continental ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Continental have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Continental
- Continental is located in Pima County
- Greaterville ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Greaterville have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greaterville
- Greaterville is located in Pima County
- Green Valley
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
- Green Valley is located in Pima County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Green Valley <6>
- Kentucky Camp ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kentucky Camp
- Kentucky Camp is located in Santa Cruz County
- Kino Springs
(18 miles [29 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kino Springs
- Kino Springs is located in Santa Cruz County
- Ruby ‑ Historic
(23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby
- Ruby is located in Santa Cruz County
- Trench Camp
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Trench Camp have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trench Camp
- Trench Camp is located in Santa Cruz County
- Twin Buttes ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Buttes have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Buttes
- Twin Buttes is located in Pima County
- Yank's Spring ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Yank's Spring. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<4>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yank's Spring
- Yank's Spring is located in Santa Cruz County
How Far From Alto 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 community such as Alto to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Alto once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Alto and extending to:
- Nogales, which is the Seat of Santa Cruz County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Alto to Nogales, with an average speed<7> 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.
- Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 144 miles [231.7 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,960 miles [3,154.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 77 days and walking would take 112 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,523 miles [12,107.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,285 miles [13,333.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,206 miles [9,987.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Santa Cruz County: www.co.santa-cruz.az.us/
The official website for State of Arizona: https://az.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Alto 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Alto) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alto. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.6206, Longitude: -110.8756 In this case, the coordinates for Alto have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Alto, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Alto to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.922 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.267 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.547 degrees. |