RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Sacramento County >> Gold River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gold River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gold River 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 Gold River:
    • 38.625363, -121.249946
    • 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 Gold River
  • 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 Sacramento County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sacramento County
    • Since Gold River is near Placer County and also El Dorado County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Placer County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for El Dorado 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 Gold River

Communities Also Named Gold River ...

We found two communities that are also named Gold River.

Within California, the name Gold River is unique.

Beyond California, we know of two communities that are located in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Gold River lies 804 miles [1,293.9 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Gold River that is located in Sacramento County.
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Gold River lies 2,908 miles [4,680 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Gold River that is located in Sacramento County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gold River ...

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 Gold River 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 Gold River to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Sacramento, which is the Seat of Sacramento County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Gold River to Sacramento, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 13 miles [20.9 km] to the west southwest (WSW). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take 6 hours.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,356 miles [3,791.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 134 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,338 miles [11,809.4 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 8,105 miles [13,043.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,154 miles [9,903.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Gold River) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Gold River 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 Gold River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6254, Longitude: -121.2499    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.309 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.123 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.444 degrees.