RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Jefferson County >> Cliffdale >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cliffdale, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cliffdale 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 Cliffdale:
    • 39.408600, -105.376385
    • 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 Cliffdale
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Cliffdale is near Park County and also Douglas County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Park County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Douglas 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 Cliffdale

Communities Also Named Cliffdale ...

We found two communities that are also named Cliffdale.

Within Colorado, the name Cliffdale is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Calhoun County
      • This Cliffdale is located in Calhoun County and lies 786 miles [1,264.9 km]<1> to the east of the Cliffdale that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calhoun County community of Cliffdale.
    • North Carolina
      • Rutherford 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 North Carolina community of Cliffdale [Rutherford County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cliffdale ...

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.

  • Buffalo Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Conifer
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Dome Rock
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Dome Rock is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dome Rock
  • Ferndale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
    • Ferndale is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferndale
  • Harris Park ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Harris Park is located in Park County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Park
  • Indian Springs Village
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
  • Longview
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Longview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Pine Junction
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
    • Pine Junction is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Junction
  • Riverview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Riverview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverview
  • Silver Springs
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Silver Springs is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
  • Sphinx Park
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Sphinx Park is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sphinx Park

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

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

  • Golden, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Cliffdale to Golden, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 30 miles [48.3 km] to the northeast (NE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take most of two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,511 miles [2,431.7 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 59 days and walking would take 86 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,903 miles [11,109.3 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 7,666 miles [12,337.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,596 miles [9,005.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Cliffdale) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Cliffdale 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 Cliffdale 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 Cliffdale. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.4086, Longitude: -105.3764       In this case, the coordinates for Cliffdale have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.788 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.31 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.217 degrees.