RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Nevada County >> Lake Wildwood >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Lake Wildwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lake Wildwood 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 Lake Wildwood:
    • 39.233115, -121.200705
    • 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 Lake Wildwood
  • 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 Nevada County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nevada County
    • Since Lake Wildwood is near Yuba County and also Sierra County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yuba County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sierra 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 Lake Wildwood

Communities Also Named Lake Wildwood ...

We found two communities that are also named Lake Wildwood.

Within California, the name Lake Wildwood is unique.

Beyond California, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Oconee County
      • This Lake Wildwood is located in Oconee County and lies 2,112 miles [3,398.9 km]<1> to the east of the Lake Wildwood that is located in Nevada County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Oconee County community of Lake Wildwood.
    • Illinois
      • Marshall 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 Illinois community of Lake Wildwood [Marshall County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lake Wildwood ...

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.

  • Big Oak Valley
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Big Oak Valley is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Oak Valley
  • Birchville
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Condemned Bar ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Condemned Bar is located in Yuba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Condemned Bar
  • Cypress Hill
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Cypress Hill is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cypress Hill
  • French Corral ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • French Corral is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Corral
  • Frenches Ravine ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Frenches Ravine is located in Yuba County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenches Ravine
  • Grass Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
  • Hills Flat
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Hills Flat is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hills Flat
  • Jones Bar ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Jones Bar is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jones Bar
  • Rice Crossing
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Rice Crossing is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Crossing
  • Ridge View
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Ridge View is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ridge View
  • Rough and Ready
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...

How Far From Lake Wildwood 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 Lake Wildwood to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Nevada City, which is the Seat of Nevada County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Lake Wildwood to Nevada City, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 47 miles [75.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,343 miles [3,770.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 134 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,298 miles [11,745 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 8,065 miles [12,979.4 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 north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lake Wildwood) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Lake Wildwood 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 Lake Wildwood 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 Lake Wildwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2331, Longitude: -121.2007    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.329 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.179 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.407 degrees.