RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Hinsdale County >> Capitol City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Capitol City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Capitol City 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 Capitol City:
    • 38.006794, -107.466659
    • 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 Capitol City
  • 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 Hinsdale County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hinsdale County
    • Since Capitol City is near San Juan County and also Ouray County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Juan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ouray 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 Capitol City

Curious and Interesting Names Near Capitol City ...

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 Capitol City 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 Capitol City 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<2> community of Capitol City once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Capitol City and extending to:

  • Lake City, which is the Seat of Hinsdale County, lies just to the East.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 179 miles [288.1 km]<3> to the northeast (NE). If you could drive a straight line from Capitol City to Denver, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,639 miles [2,637.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 64 days and walking would take 94 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,045 miles [11,337.8 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 7,809 miles [12,567.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,743 miles [9,242.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Capitol City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Capitol City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Capitol City 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 Capitol City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0068, Longitude: -107.4667    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 328.217 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 326.849 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.482 degrees.