RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Colorado >> Jefferson County >> Rainbow Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Rainbow Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rainbow Ridge 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 Rainbow Ridge:
    • 39.793889, -105.134167
    • 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 Rainbow Ridge
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Rainbow Ridge is near Adams County and also Denver County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Adams County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Denver 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 Rainbow Ridge

Communities Also Named Rainbow Ridge ...

We found two communities that are also named Rainbow Ridge.

Within Colorado, the name Rainbow Ridge is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Marion County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Rainbow Ridge [Marion County].
    • Virginia
      • Montgomery County
      • This Rainbow Ridge is located in Montgomery County and lies 1,344 miles [2,163 km]<2> to the east of the Rainbow Ridge that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Rainbow Ridge.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Rainbow Ridge ...

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.

  • Candlelight
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Candlelight is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Candlelight
  • Green Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Green Valley is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Valley
  • Hackberry Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Hackberry Hills is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hackberry Hills
  • Lakecrest
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Lakecrest is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakecrest
  • Lakeview
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Meadow Lake
    (Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
    • Meadow Lake is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lake
  • Paramount Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Paramount Heights is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paramount Heights
  • Park Slope
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Park Slope is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Slope
  • Rolling Hills
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Rolling Hills is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rolling Hills
  • Scenic Heights
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Scenic Heights is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scenic Heights
  • Wildwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Wildwood is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wildwood
  • Wood Run
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Wood Run is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wood Run

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

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

  • Golden, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies just to the east southeast (ESE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,495 miles [2,406 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Rainbow Ridge to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 85 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 59 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,874 miles [11,062.6 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 7,637 miles [12,290.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,568 miles [8,960.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Rainbow Ridge 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 '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- Rainbow Ridge) 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 Rainbow Ridge 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 Rainbow Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.7939, Longitude: -105.1342       In this case, the coordinates for Rainbow Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.643 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.181 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.044 degrees.