RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Walnut Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Walnut Creek 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 Walnut Creek:
    • 37.909741, -122.065200
    • 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 Walnut Creek
  • 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 Contra Costa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Contra Costa County
    • Since Walnut Creek is near Alameda County and also Solano County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Alameda County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Solano 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 Walnut Creek

Communities Also Named Walnut Creek ...

We found thirteen communities that are also named Walnut Creek.

Within California, the name Walnut Creek is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Clayton County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Clayton County and lies 2,122 miles [3,415 km]<1> to the east of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clayton County community of Walnut Creek.
    • Kansas
      • Barton 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 Kansas community of Walnut Creek [Barton County].
      • Cherokee County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Walnut Creek [Cherokee County].
      • Crawford County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Walnut Creek [Crawford County].
      • Neosho County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Walnut Creek [Neosho County].
      • Rice County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Walnut Creek [Rice County].
      • Saline County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Walnut Creek [Saline County].
    • Mississippi
      • Tippah County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Tippah County and lies 1,847 miles [2,972.5 km]<1> to the east of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tippah County community of Walnut Creek.
    • North Carolina
      • Madison County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Madison County and lies 2,164 miles [3,482.6 km]<1> to the east of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Walnut Creek.
      • Onslow County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Onslow County and lies 2,474 miles [3,981.5 km] to the east of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Onslow County community of Walnut Creek.
      • Wayne County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Wayne County and lies 2,433 miles [3,915.5 km] to the east of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wayne County community of Walnut Creek.
    • Ohio
      • Holmes County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Holmes County and lies 2,146 miles [3,453.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Holmes County community of Walnut Creek.
    • South Carolina
      • Lexington County
      • This Walnut Creek is located in Lexington County and lies 2,282 miles [3,672.5 km]<1> to the east of the Walnut Creek that is located in Contra Costa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lexington County community of Walnut Creek.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Walnut Creek ...

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 Walnut Creek 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 Walnut Creek to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Martinez, which is the Seat of Contra Costa County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 55 miles [88.5 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Walnut Creek to Sacramento, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,412 miles [3,881.7 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 95 days and walking would take 137 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,399 miles [11,907.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,166 miles [13,141.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,219 miles [10,008.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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- Walnut Creek) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Walnut Creek 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Walnut Creek 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 Walnut Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.9097, Longitude: -122.0652    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.919 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.82 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.948 degrees.