RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> San Miguel County >> Placerville >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Placerville, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Placerville 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 Placerville:
    • 38.016067, -108.053188
    • 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 Placerville
  • 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 San Miguel County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Miguel County
    • Since Placerville is near Dolores County and also Ouray County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dolores County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ouray 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 Placerville

Communities Also Named Placerville ...

We found three communities that are also named Placerville.

Within Colorado, the name Placerville is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • El Dorado County
      • This Placerville is located in El Dorado County and lies 691 miles [1,112.1 km]<1> to the west of the Placerville that is located in San Miguel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the El Dorado County community of Placerville.
    • Idaho
      • Boise County
      • This Placerville is located in Boise County and lies 579 miles [931.8 km]<1> to the northwest of the Placerville that is located in San Miguel County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Boise County community of Placerville.
    • Nevada
      • Elko County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Elko County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elko County community of Placerville.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Placerville ...

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.

  • Brown
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Brown is located in San Miguel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Brown
  • Keystone ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Leonard ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Leonard is located in San Miguel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard
  • Liberty Bell ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
  • Lime
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Lime is located in San Miguel County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lime
  • Mountain Village
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)
  • Sawpit
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
  • Telluride
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
  • Vanadium ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)

How Far From Placerville 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 Placerville to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Telluride, which is the Seat of San Miguel County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Placerville to Telluride, with an average speed<4> 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 four to five hours.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 203 miles [326.7 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,670 miles [2,687.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 66 days and walking would take 95 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,061 miles [11,363.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,826 miles [12,594.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,763 miles [9,274.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Placerville) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Placerville, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Placerville 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 Placerville. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.0161, Longitude: -108.0532    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 328.664 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 327.379 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.802 degrees.