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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Orchard Mesa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Orchard Mesa and the surrounding area.
- 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 Orchard Mesa:
- 39.043037, -108.552315
- 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 Orchard Mesa
- 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 Mesa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mesa County
- Since Orchard Mesa is near Delta County and also Grand County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Delta 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 Orchard Mesa
Curious and Interesting Names Near Orchard Mesa ...
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.
- Bridges Switch
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Bridges Switch is located in Mesa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bridges Switch
- Fruitvale
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Grand Junction
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- John Held Corner
(23 miles [37 km] to the east)
- John Held Corner is located in Mesa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for John Held Corner
- Mount Lincoln
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Mount Lincoln is located in Mesa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Lincoln
- Pear Park
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Pear Park is located in Mesa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pear Park
- Peeples
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Peeples is located in Delta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peeples
- Rosevale
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- Rosevale is located in Mesa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rosevale
- Ruby
(23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
- Ruby is located in Mesa County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ruby
How Far From Orchard Mesa 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 Orchard Mesa to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Orchard Mesa and extending to:
- Grand Junction, which is the Seat of Mesa County, lies just to the North.
- Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 195 miles [313.8 km]<2> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Orchard Mesa to Denver, with an average speed<3>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 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,683 miles [2,708.5 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 66 days and walking would take 96 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,015 miles [11,289.5 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 7,780 miles [12,520.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,726 miles [9,215.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Orchard Mesa) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Orchard Mesa 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 Orchard Mesa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0430, Longitude: -108.5523 In this case, the coordinates for Orchard Mesa have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.158 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.063 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.998 degrees. |
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