RoadsideThoughts
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The Commemorative Quarter for California







Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nelson Bar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nelson Bar 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 Nelson Bar:
    • 39.695718, -121.561360
    • 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 Nelson Bar
  • 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

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nelson Bar ...

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 Ripples ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Ripples have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Ripples
    • Big Ripples is located in Butte County
  • Bloomer ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bloomer have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomer
    • Bloomer is located in Butte County
  • Cherokee ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Cherokee. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cherokee
    • Cherokee is located in Butte County
  • Concow
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Concow have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Concow
    • Concow is located in Butte County
  • David ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for David have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for David
    • David is located in Butte County
  • Deadwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deadwood have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
    • Deadwood is located in Butte County
  • James
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for James have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for James
    • James is located in Butte County
  • Mineral Slide
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mineral Slide have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Slide
    • Mineral Slide is located in Butte County
  • Paradise
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Parkhill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Parkhill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Parkhill
    • Parkhill is located in Butte County
  • Pipers ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pipers have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipers
    • Pipers is located in Butte County
  • Poe
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poe have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poe
    • Poe is located in Butte County
  • Yankee Hill
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Yankee Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yankee Hill
    • Yankee Hill is located in Butte County

How Far From Nelson Bar 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 Nelson Bar to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Nelson Bar once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Nelson Bar and extending to:

  • Oroville, which is the Seat of Butte County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<5> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Nelson Bar to Oroville, with an average speed<6> 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.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 77 miles [123.9 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,354 miles [3,788.4 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,274 miles [11,706.4 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 8,041 miles [12,940.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,101 miles [9,818.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>

The official website for Butte County: www.buttecounty.net/

The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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.
<2>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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Nelson Bar, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<5>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Nelson Bar) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Nelson Bar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6957, Longitude: -121.5614       In this case, the coordinates for Nelson Bar have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Nelson Bar 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 339.676 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.617 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.624 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 28 Mar 2025