Grand Canyon (Coconino County, AZ) - Tidbits, Odds-and-Ends

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Grand Canyon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Grand Canyon and the surrounding area.

Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Grand Canyon

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 Grand Canyon:
- 36.054376, -112.137774
- 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 Grand Canyon

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 Coconino County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Coconino 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 Grand Canyon ...

We found one communities that share the name Grand Canyon.

Within Arizona, the name Grand Canyon is unique.

Beyond Arizona, there is another community also named Grand Canyon in the United States.

Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Missouri
  - Saint Louis 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 Missouri community of Grand Canyon [Saint Louis County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Grand Canyon ...

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.

In the vicinity of Grand Canyon, Apex (now historic) was located 8 miles [12.9 km]<2> to the South

How Far From Grand Canyon 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 Grand Canyon to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Grand Canyon and extending to:

Flagstaff, which is the Seat of Coconino County, lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<2> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Grand Canyon to Flagstaff, with an average speed<3> 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 about three full days.
Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 179 miles [288.1 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,921 miles [3,091.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 75 days and walking would take 110 days.
The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,291 miles [11,733.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,058 miles [12,968.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,010 miles [9,672.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>

Off-the-Road Links ...

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Grand Canyon. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Coconino County: www.co.coconino.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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Grand Canyon 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Grand Canyon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Grand Canyon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.0544, Longitude: -112.1378
<3>	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.
<4>	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 Grand Canyon to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<5>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.584 degrees.
<6>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 330.674 degrees.
<7>	The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 322.155 degrees.