RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Placer County >> Nielsburg >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Nielsburg, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nielsburg 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 Nielsburg:
    • 38.957120, -121.033278
    • 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 Nielsburg
  • 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 Placer County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Placer County
    • Since Nielsburg is near Nevada County and also El Dorado County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nevada 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 Nielsburg

Curious and Interesting Names Near Nielsburg ...

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.

  • Clipper Gap
    (Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
    • Clipper Gap is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clipper Gap
  • Cool
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Eden Valley
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Eden Valley is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden Valley
  • Elders Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)
    • Elders Corner is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elders Corner
  • Gold Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Gold Hill is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gold Hill
  • Greenwood
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Heather Glen
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Heather Glen is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heather Glen
  • Meadow Vista
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
  • Pilot Hill
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Plumtree Crossing
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
    • Plumtree Crossing is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumtree Crossing
  • Twin Pines
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Twin Pines is located in Placer County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Pines
  • Wolf
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Wolf is located in Nevada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Nielsburg and extending to:

  • Auburn, which is the Seat of Placer County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 35 miles [56.3 km]<2> to the southwest (SW). If you could walk a straight line from Nielsburg to Sacramento, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,339 miles [3,764.3 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 133 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,312 miles [11,767.5 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 8,079 miles [13,001.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,129 miles [9,863.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Nielsburg) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Nielsburg 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 Nielsburg. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.9571, Longitude: -121.0333       In this case, the coordinates for Nielsburg have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.161 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.963 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.308 degrees.