RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Dallas County >> Gardiner >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gardiner, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gardiner 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 Gardiner:
    • 41.824430, -94.028010
    • 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 Gardiner
  • 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 Dallas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dallas County
    • Since Gardiner is near Boone County and also Greene County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boone County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Greene 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 Gardiner

Communities Also Named Gardiner ...

We found nine communities that are also named Gardiner.

Within Iowa, the name Gardiner is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these nine communities, eight are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maine
      • Kennebec County
      • This Gardiner is located in Kennebec County and lies 1,230 miles [1,979.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kennebec County community of Gardiner.
    • Michigan
      • Wexford 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 Michigan community of Gardiner [Wexford County].
    • Montana
      • Park County
      • This Gardiner is located in Park County and lies 863 miles [1,388.9 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Park County community of Gardiner.
    • Nebraska
      • Platte County
      • This Gardiner is located in Platte County and lies 185 miles [297.7 km]<1> to the west of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Platte County community of Gardiner.
    • New Mexico
      • Colfax County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the New Mexico community of Gardiner [Colfax County].
    • New York
      • Ulster County
      • This Gardiner is located in Ulster County and lies 1,021 miles [1,643.1 km]<1> to the east of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ulster County community of Gardiner.
    • Ontario
      • This Gardiner lies 811 miles [1,305.2 km]<1> to the northeast of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
    • Oregon
      • Douglas County
      • This Gardiner is located in Douglas County and lies 1,521 miles [2,447.8 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Gardiner.
    • Washington
      • Jefferson County
      • This Gardiner is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,466 miles [2,359.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Gardiner that is located in Dallas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Gardiner.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gardiner ...

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.

  • Beaver
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Beaver is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 50 people
  • Coal Valley
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Coal Valley is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Valley
  • High Bridge
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • High Bridge is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Bridge
  • Kennedy
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Kennedy is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennedy
  • Luther
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Luther is located in Boone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Luther
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 133 people
  • Madrid
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
  • Panther
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Panther is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Panther
  • Perry Yard
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Perry Yard is located in Dallas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perry Yard

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

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

  • Adel, which is the Seat of Dallas County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Gardiner to Adel, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast (SE). The buggy would take just over a day and walking would take just about two full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 914 miles [1,470.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,411 miles [10,317.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,161 miles [11,524.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,058 miles [8,140.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Gardiner) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 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 Gardiner 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 Gardiner, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Gardiner 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 Gardiner. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8244, Longitude: -94.0280       In this case, the coordinates for Gardiner have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.777 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.292 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.817 degrees.