Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Spruce, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Spruce and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Spruce
- 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 Spruce:
- 39.315737, -120.428537
- 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 Spruce
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for Placer County
- Since Spruce is near Nevada County and also Shasta County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Nevada County
- eBird sighting report for Shasta 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Spruce ...
We found fourteen communities that share the name Spruce.
Within California, the name Spruce is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another fourteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, thirteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Manitoba
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Michigan
- Alcona County
- This Spruce is located in Alcona County and lies 1,915 miles [3,081.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spruce that is located in Placer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Alcona County community of Spruce.
- Baraga 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 Michigan community of Spruce [Baraga County].
- Dickinson County
- This Spruce is located in Dickinson County and lies 1,707 miles [2,747.2 km] to the east northeast of the Spruce that is located in Placer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dickinson County community of Spruce.
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Nevada
- Pennsylvania
- Clinton County
- This Spruce is located in Clinton County and lies 2,217 miles [3,567.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Spruce that is located in Placer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clinton County community of Spruce.
- Huntingdon 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 Pennsylvania community of Spruce [Huntingdon County].
- Indiana County
- This Spruce is located in Indiana County and lies 2,180 miles [3,508.4 km] to the east northeast of the Spruce that is located in Placer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Indiana County community of Spruce.
- West Virginia
- Pocahontas County
- This Spruce is located in Pocahontas County and lies 2,157 miles [3,471.4 km]<1> to the east of the Spruce that is located in Placer County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Pocahontas County community of Spruce.
- Upshur 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 West Virginia community of Spruce [Upshur County].
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Spruce ...
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.
- Crystal Lake
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crystal Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Lake
- Crystal Lake is located in Nevada County
- Donner
(5 miles [8 km] to the east) - Donner Lake
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Donner Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donner Lake
- Donner Lake is located in Nevada County
- Kingvale
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kingvale
- Kingvale is located in Nevada County
- Lakeview
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Meadow Lake ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Meadow Lake. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lake
- Meadow Lake is located in Nevada County
- Rainbow
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west) - Soda Springs
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
- Soda Springs is located in Nevada County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Soda Springs <6>
- Summit City ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Summit City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit City
- Summit City is located in Nevada County
How Far From Spruce 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 Spruce 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 community of Spruce once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Spruce and extending to:
- Auburn, which is the Seat of Placer County, lies 44 miles [70.8 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Spruce to Auburn, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 76 miles [122.3 km] to the southwest (SW). 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 2,302 miles [3,704.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 90 days and walking would take 131 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,277 miles [11,711.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,045 miles [12,947.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,090 miles [9,800.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Placer County: www.placer.ca.gov/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Spruce) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Spruce. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.3157, Longitude: -120.4285 In this case, the coordinates for Spruce have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Spruce 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> | 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 Spruce, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Spruce to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 338.693 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.423 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.931 degrees. |