Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in San Rafael, we use the following websites to find information relevant to San Rafael and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for San Rafael
- 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 San Rafael:
- 31.737304, -112.024291
- 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 San Rafael
- 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 Pima County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Pima 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 San Rafael ...
We found four communities that share the name San Rafael.
Within Arizona, the name San Rafael is unique.
Beyond Arizona, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Marin County
- This San Rafael is located in Marin County and lies 733 miles [1,179.6 km]<1> to the northwest of the San Rafael that is located in Pima County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marin County community of San Rafael.
- Colorado
- Conejos County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of San Rafael [Conejos County].
- New Mexico
- Cibola County
- This San Rafael is located in Cibola County and lies 333 miles [535.9 km]<1> to the northeast of the San Rafael that is located in Pima County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cibola County community of San Rafael.
- San Miguel County
- This San Rafael is located in San Miguel County and lies 506 miles [814.3 km] to the east northeast of the San Rafael that is located in Pima County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Miguel County community of San Rafael.
- California
Curious and Interesting Names Near San Rafael ...
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.
- Allen ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the north) - Cowlic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cowlic
- Cowlic is located in Pima County
- Peach Pu
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest) - Sells
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sells
- Sells is located in Pima County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sells <5>
How Far From San Rafael 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 San Rafael to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in San Rafael and extending to:
- Tucson, which is the Seat of Pima County, lies 72 miles [115.9 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could drive a straight line from San Rafael to Tucson, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
- Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 118 miles [189.9 km] to the north (N). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,019 miles [3,249.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 4 days, a buggy would take 79 days and walking would take 115 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,549 miles [12,148.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,313 miles [13,378.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,242 miles [10,045.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for San Rafael. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Pima County: www.co.pima.az.us/
The official website for State of Arizona: https://az.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- San Rafael) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in San Rafael. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.7373, Longitude: -112.0243 In this case, the coordinates for San Rafael have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 San Rafael 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> | 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 San Rafael to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 330.841 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.392 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 322.152 degrees. |