Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Grand Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Grand Island and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Grand Island
- 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 Grand Island:
- 39.970820, -105.603335
- 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 Grand Island
- 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 Boulder County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Boulder County
- Since Grand Island is near Gilpin County and also Grand County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Gilpin County
- 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Grand Island ...
We found four communities that share the name Grand Island.
Within Colorado, the name Grand Island is unique.
Beyond Colorado, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Colusa County
- This Grand Island is located in Colusa County and lies 867 miles [1,395.3 km]<1> to the west of the Grand Island that is located in Boulder County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Colusa County community of Grand Island.
- Florida
- Lake County
- This Grand Island is located in Lake County and lies 1,553 miles [2,499.3 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Grand Island that is located in Boulder County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of Grand Island.
- Nebraska
- Hall County
- This Grand Island is located in Hall County and lies 386 miles [621.2 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Grand Island that is located in Boulder County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hall County community of Grand Island.
- New York
- Erie 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 New York community of Grand Island [Erie County].
- California
Curious and Interesting Names Near Grand Island ...
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.
- American City ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for American City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for American City
- American City is located in Gilpin County
- Apex ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Apex
- Apex is located in Gilpin County
- Caribou ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caribou
- Caribou is located in Boulder County
- Caribou has also been known as:
- Caribou City
- Lincoln Hills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lincoln Hills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln Hills
- Lincoln Hills is located in Gilpin County
- Nederland
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Nederland
- Nederland is located in Boulder County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,557 people
- Former names for Nederland:
- Browns Crossing
- Dayton
- Middle Boulder
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Nederland <4>
- Nugget
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south) - Silver Springs
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Silver Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
- Silver Springs is located in Boulder County
- Sunset ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Switzerland Park
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Switzerland Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Switzerland Park
- Switzerland Park is located in Boulder County
- Tungsten ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Whispering Pine
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whispering Pine have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whispering Pine
- Whispering Pine is located in Boulder County
- Wideawake ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
How Far From Grand Island 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 Grand Island 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<5> community of Grand Island once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Grand Island and extending to:
- Boulder, which is the Seat of Boulder County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Grand Island to Boulder, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
- Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 35 miles [56.3 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take most of two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,518 miles [2,443 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 60 days and walking would take 87 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,877 miles [11,067.5 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 7,641 miles [12,297 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,575 miles [8,972.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Boulder County: www.co.boulder.co.us/
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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Grand Island) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Grand Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9708, Longitude: -105.6033 In this case, the coordinates for Grand Island 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 Grand Island 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> | 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 Grand Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Grand Island 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 327.012 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.631 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.281 degrees. |