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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rocklin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rocklin and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Rocklin:
    • 38.790781, -121.235973
    • 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 Rocklin
  • 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 Rocklin is near Sacramento County and also El Dorado County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sacramento 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 Rocklin

Communities Also Named Rocklin ...

We found one communities that are also named Rocklin.

Within California, the name Rocklin is unique.

Beyond California, there is another community also named Rocklin in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nova Scotia
      • This Rocklin lies 2,961 miles [4,765.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Rocklin that is located in Placer County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rocklin ...

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 Rocklin 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 city such as Rocklin to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Auburn, which is the Seat of Placer County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Rocklin to Auburn, with an average speed<3> 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 19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest (SW). The buggy would take 6 hours and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,353 miles [3,786.8 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 7,327 miles [11,791.7 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 8,094 miles [13,026 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,144 miles [9,887.8 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Rocklin) 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 Rocklin 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 Rocklin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.7908, Longitude: -121.2360    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.314 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.138 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.434 degrees.