Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Pitkin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pitkin and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Pitkin
- 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 Pitkin:
- 38.608856, -106.516348
- 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 Pitkin
- 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 Gunnison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Gunnison County
- Since Pitkin is near Chaffee County and also Saguache County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Chaffee County
- eBird sighting report for Saguache 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 Pitkin ...
We found two communities that share the name Pitkin.
Within Colorado, the name Pitkin is unique.
Beyond Colorado, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Louisiana
Curious and Interesting Names Near Pitkin ...
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.
- Alpine ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast) - Chance
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest) - Chester
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast) - Iris
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest) - Iron City ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast) - Maysville ‑ Historic
(18 miles [29 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maysville
- Maysville is located in Chaffee County
- Monarch
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monarch
- Monarch is located in Chaffee County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Monarch <4>
- Stonewall
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Tincup
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tincup
- Tincup is located in Gunnison County
How Far From Pitkin 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 town such as Pitkin to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Pitkin and extending to:
- Gunnison, which is the Seat of Gunnison County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Pitkin to Gunnison, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day 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 113 miles [181.9 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,580 miles [2,542.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 62 days and walking would take 90 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,983 miles [11,238 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 7,746 miles [12,466 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,678 miles [9,137.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Pitkin: www.pitkincolorado.com/
The official website for Gunnison County: www.co.gunnison.co.us/
The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Pitkin 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. |
| <2> | 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 from Point A (ie- Pitkin) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Pitkin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.6089, Longitude: -106.5163 |
| <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 Pitkin 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 327.564 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 326.139 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.915 degrees. |