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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Silverthorn, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Silverthorn 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 Silverthorn:
    • 40.647650, -122.391676
    • 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 Silverthorn
  • 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 Shasta County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shasta County
    • Since Silverthorn is near Trinity County and also Tehama County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Trinity County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tehama 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 Silverthorn

Communities Also Named Silverthorn ...

We found two communities that are also named Silverthorn.

Within California, the name Silverthorn is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Silverthorn [Missoula County].
    • Nebraska
      • Cheyenne County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Silverthorn [Cheyenne County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Silverthorn ...

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.

  • Buckeye
    (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
    • Buckeye is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buckeye
  • Churntown ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Churntown is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Churntown
    • Former name for Churntown:
    • One Wagon Town
  • Enterprise
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Enterprise is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Hart ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Hart is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hart
    • Hart has also been known as:
    • Hart Village
    • Hart's Camp
  • Hogtown ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Hogtown is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hogtown
  • Minnesota
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Minnesota is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Minnesota
  • Mountain Gate
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Mountain Gate is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Gate
    • Former names for Mountain Gate:
    • Bass
    • Fish's Station
  • Project City ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Project City is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Project City
  • Summit City ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Summit City is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit City
  • Tunnel Inn
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Tunnel Inn is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tunnel Inn

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

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

  • Redding, which is the Seat of Shasta County, lies just to the South.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 150 miles [241.4 km]<2> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could drive a straight line from Silverthorn to Sacramento, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,383 miles [3,835.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 93 days and walking would take 136 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,228 miles [11,632.3 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 7,993 miles [12,863.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,068 miles [9,765.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Silverthorn 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.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Silverthorn) 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 Silverthorn 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 Silverthorn. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.6476, Longitude: -122.3917       In this case, the coordinates for Silverthorn have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.458 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 341.598 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.125 degrees.