RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Clear Creek County >> Downieville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Downieville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Downieville 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 Downieville:
    • 39.766012, -105.6137
    • 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 Downieville
  • 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:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clear Creek County
    • Since Downieville is near Gilpin County and also Grand County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gilpin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grand 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 Downieville

Communities Also Named Downieville ...

We found two communities that are also named Downieville.

Within Colorado, the name Downieville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Sierra County
      • This Downieville is located in Sierra County and lies 807 miles [1,298.7 km]<1> to the west of the Downieville that is located in Clear Creek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sierra County community of Downieville.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Butler County
      • This Downieville is located in Butler County and lies 1,347 miles [2,167.8 km]<1> to the east of the Downieville that is located in Clear Creek County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Downieville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Downieville ...

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 Downieville to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Downieville to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Georgetown, which is the Seat of Clear Creek County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 32 miles [51.5 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could walk a straight line from Downieville to Denver, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,520 miles [2,446.2 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 87 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,889 miles [11,086.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • 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).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,586 miles [8,989.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Downieville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<3>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.
<4>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 Downieville 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 Downieville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7660, Longitude: -105.6137    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 327.00 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.596 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.309 degrees.