RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arizona >> Gila County >> Top-of-the-World >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Top-of-the-World, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Top-of-the-World and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Top-of-the-World:
    • 33.350594, -110.989677
    • 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.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Top-of-the-World
  • 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 Gila County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gila County
    • Since Top-of-the-World is near Pinal County and also Maricopa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pinal County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Maricopa 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Top-of-the-World

Communities Also Named Top-of-the-World ...

We found three communities that are also named Top-of-the-World.

Within Arizona, the name Top-of-the-World is unique.

Beyond Arizona, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Orange County
      • This Top-of-the-World is located in Orange County and lies 389 miles [626 km]<1> to the west of the Top-of-the-World that is located in Gila County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Orange County community of Top-of-the-World.
    • New Mexico
      • McKinley 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 New Mexico community of Top-of-the-World [McKinley County].
    • Utah
      • Salt Lake County
      • This Top-of-the-World is located in Salt Lake County and lies 502 miles [807.9 km]<1> to the north of the Top-of-the-World that is located in Gila County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Salt Lake County community of Top-of-the-World.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Top-of-the-World ...

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.

How Far From Top-of-the-World to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Top-of-the-World to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Top-of-the-World and extending to:

  • Globe, which is the Seat of Gila County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Top-of-the-World to Globe, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Phoenix, which is the State Capital of Arizona, lies 62 miles [99.8 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,920 miles [3,089.9 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 75 days and walking would take 109 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,422 miles [11,944.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,186 miles [13,174.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,117 miles [9,844.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Top-of-the-World) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Top-of-the-World 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Top-of-the-World to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Top-of-the-World. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.3506, Longitude: -110.9897    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 330.295 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.88 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.593 degrees.