Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Crain Creek, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Crain Creek and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Crain Creek
- 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 Crain Creek:
- 42.549986, -92.259071
- 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 Crain Creek
- 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 Black Hawk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Black Hawk County
- Since Crain Creek is near Bremer County and also Buchanan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bremer County
- eBird sighting report for Buchanan 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Crain Creek ...
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.
- Big Rock
(Less than 2 miles to the west) - Castle Hill
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Castle Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Hill
- Castle Hill is located in Black Hawk County
- Cedar City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Cedar City have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar City
- Cedar City is located in Black Hawk County
- Cedar Falls
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Falls
- Cedar Falls is located in Black Hawk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 40,231 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Cedar Falls <2>
- Edwards ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
- Edwards is located in Black Hawk County
- Gilbertville
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gilbertville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gilbertville
- Gilbertville is located in Black Hawk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 725 people
- Glasgow ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Hilltop
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Klinger
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Klinger
- Klinger is located in Bremer County
- Orange
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest) - Raymond
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raymond
- Raymond is located in Black Hawk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 788 people
How Far From Crain Creek to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Crain Creek to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Crain Creek once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Crain Creek and extending to:
- Waterloo, which is the Seat of Black Hawk County, lies just to the Southwest.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<4> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Crain Creek to Des Moines, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 834 miles [1,342.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,313 miles [10,159.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,062 miles [11,365.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,957 miles [7,977.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Black Hawk County: www.co.black-hawk.ia.us/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <2> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Crain Creek, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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- Crain Creek) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Crain Creek. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.5500, Longitude: -92.2591 In this case, the coordinates for Crain Creek have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Crain Creek 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 317.57 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.005 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.729 degrees. |