Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blue Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Valley and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blue Valley
- 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 Blue Valley:
- 39.699710, -105.489163
- 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 Blue Valley
- 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 Clear Creek County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Clear Creek County
- Since Blue Valley is near Gilpin County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Gilpin County
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 Blue Valley ...
We found two communities that share the name Blue Valley.
Within Colorado, the name Blue Valley is unique.
Beyond Colorado, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Missouri
- Jackson 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 Missouri community of Blue Valley [Jackson County].
- Nebraska
- York County
- This community is historic<2> and although located in York County, we don't know where within the county.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the York County community of Blue Valley.
- Missouri
Curious and Interesting Names Near Blue Valley ...
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.
- Black Eagle Mill
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black Eagle Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Eagle Mill
- Black Eagle Mill is located in Clear Creek County
- Black Hawk
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Black Hawk have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Black Hawk
- Black Hawk is located in Gilpin County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 131 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Black Hawk <4>
- Cottonwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cottonwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
- Cottonwood is located in Gilpin County
- Downieville
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Downieville
- Downieville is located in Clear Creek County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Downieville <4>
- Elephant Park
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elephant Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elephant Park
- Elephant Park is located in Jefferson County
- Freeland ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Idaho Springs
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Idaho Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idaho Springs
- Idaho Springs is located in Clear Creek County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,857 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Idaho Springs <4>
- Nevadaville ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nevadaville
- Nevadaville is located in Gilpin County
- Nevadaville has also been known as:
- Bald Mountain
- Nevada City
- Rainbow Hills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rainbow Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Hills
- Rainbow Hills is located in Jefferson County
- Rosedale
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Silver Creek ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Creek
- Silver Creek is located in Clear Creek County
- Troutdale
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
How Far From Blue Valley to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Blue Valley to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Blue Valley and extending to:
- Georgetown, which is the Seat of Clear Creek County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<5> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Blue Valley to Georgetown, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 26 miles [41.8 km] to the east (E). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,514 miles [2,436.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 60 days and walking would take 86 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,890 miles [11,088.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,653 miles [12,316.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,585 miles [8,988.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Blue Valley. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Clear Creek County: www.co.clear-creek.co.us/
The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/
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 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 Blue Valley 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> | 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 Blue Valley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <5> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Blue Valley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blue Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6997, Longitude: -105.4892 In this case, the coordinates for Blue Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Blue Valley to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.901 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.472 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.248 degrees. |