Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Fort Lyon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Fort Lyon and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Fort Lyon
- 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 Fort Lyon:
- 38.092229, -103.152150
- 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 Fort Lyon
- 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 Bent County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Bent County
- Since Fort Lyon is near Otero County and also Kiowa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Otero County
- eBird sighting report for Kiowa 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 Fort Lyon ...
We found three communities that share the name Fort Lyon.
Within Colorado, the name Fort Lyon is unique.
Beyond Colorado, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Maine
- Missouri
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fort Lyon ...
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.
- Boggsville ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Boggsville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boggsville
- Boggsville is located in Bent County
- Hasty
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hasty
- Hasty is located in Bent County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hasty <4>
- Hays
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the west) - May Valley
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for May Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for May Valley
- May Valley is located in Prowers County
- Randall
(23 miles [37 km] to the west) - Roberta
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west) - Sugar
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the east) - Sugar City
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sugar City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar City
- Sugar City is located in Crowley County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 244 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sugar City <4>
- Swink
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Swink have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swink
- Swink is located in Otero County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 595 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Swink <4>
How Far From Fort Lyon 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 Fort Lyon to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Fort Lyon and extending to:
- Las Animas, which is the Seat of Bent County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 150 miles [241.4 km]<1> to the northwest (NW). If you could drive a straight line from Fort Lyon to Denver, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,407 miles [2,264.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 55 days and walking would take 80 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,911 miles [11,122.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,669 miles [12,342.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,583 miles [8,985 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Fort Lyon. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 from Point A (ie- Fort Lyon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Fort Lyon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0922, Longitude: -103.1522 In this case, the coordinates for Fort Lyon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Fort Lyon 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> | 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> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Fort Lyon to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.011 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 323.08 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 317.17 degrees. |