Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Thornton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Thornton and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Thornton
- 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 Thornton:
- 39.918127, -104.947140
- 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 Thornton
- 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 Adams County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Adams County
- Since Thornton is near Broomfield County and also Boulder County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Broomfield County
- eBird sighting report for Boulder 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 Thornton ...
We found 28 communities that share the name Thornton.
Within Colorado, the name Thornton is unique.
Beyond Colorado, we know of another 28 communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these 28 communities, 27 are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Lauderdale County
- This Thornton is located in Lauderdale County and lies 1,029 miles [1,656 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Thornton that is located in Adams County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lauderdale County community of Thornton.
- Tallapoosa County
- This Thornton is located in Tallapoosa County and lies 1,175 miles [1,891 km] to the east southeast of the Thornton that is located in Adams County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tallapoosa County community of Thornton.
- Arkansas
- California
- Idaho
- Kootenai 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 Idaho community of Thornton [Kootenai County].
- Madison County
- This Thornton is located in Madison County and lies 442 miles [711.3 km]<1> to the northwest of the Thornton that is located in Adams County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of Thornton.
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New York
- Ohio
- Ontario
- This Thornton lies 1,321 miles [2,125.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Thornton that is located in Adams County.
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Alabama
Curious and Interesting Names Near Thornton ...
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.
- Cotton Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cotton Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Creek
- Cotton Creek is located in Adams County
- Cozy Corner
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cozy Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cozy Corner
- Cozy Corner is located in Adams County
- Derby
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Federal Heights
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Federal Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Federal Heights
- Federal Heights is located in Adams County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13,598 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Federal Heights <5>
- Holiday Hills Village
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Holiday Hills Village have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Hills Village
- Holiday Hills Village is located in Adams County
- Irondale
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Little Texas ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Little Texas. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<6>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Texas
- Little Texas is located in Adams County
- Quail Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Quail Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Hill
- Quail Hill is located in Adams County
- Sunset Ridge
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Ridge
- Sunset Ridge is located in Adams County
- Todd Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Todd Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Todd Creek
- Todd Creek is located in Adams County
- Wandering View
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Wandering View have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wandering View
- Wandering View is located in Adams County
How Far From Thornton 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 city such as Thornton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Thornton and extending to:
- Brighton, which is the Seat of Adams County, lies just to the East Northeast.
- Denver, which is the State Capital of Colorado, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could walk a straight line from Thornton to Denver, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,484 miles [2,388.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 58 days and walking would take 85 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,861 miles [11,041.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,624 miles [12,269.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,555 miles [8,939.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Thornton: www.cityofthornton.net/
The official website for Adams County: www.co.adams.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 from Point A (ie- Thornton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Thornton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.9181, Longitude: -104.9471 In this case, the coordinates for Thornton 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 Thornton 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> | 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 Thornton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Thornton to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 326.515 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 325.043 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 317.928 degrees. |