Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hills and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Hills
- 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 Hills:
- 41.556082, -91.535251
- 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 Hills
- 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 Johnson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Johnson County
- Since Hills is near Washington County and also Cedar County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Washington County
- eBird sighting report for Cedar 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 Hills ...
We found sixteen communities that share the name Hills.
Within Iowa, the name Hills is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another sixteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these sixteen communities, fourteen are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- British Columbia
- This Hills lies 1,371 miles [2,206.4 km]<1> to the northwest of the Hills that is located in Johnson County.
- California
- Georgia
- Maryland
- Anne Arundel County
- This Hills is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 811 miles [1,305.2 km]<1> to the east of the Hills that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Hills.
- Prince George's 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 Maryland community of Hills [Prince George's County].
- Minnesota
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Clermont County
- This Hills is located in Clermont County and lies 417 miles [671.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Hills that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clermont County community of Hills.
- Cuyahoga 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 Ohio community of Hills [Cuyahoga County].
- Pike 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 Ohio community of Hills [Pike County].
- Washington County
- This Hills is located in Washington County and lies 553 miles [890 km] to the east southeast of the Hills that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of Hills.
- Ontario
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
- Lee County
- This Hills is located in Lee County and lies 843 miles [1,356.7 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Hills that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lee County community of Hills.
- Travis County
- This Hills is located in Travis County and lies 853 miles [1,372.8 km] to the south southwest of the Hills that is located in Johnson County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Travis County community of Hills.
- Utah
- British Columbia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Hills ...
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.
- Coralville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Coralville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coralville
- Coralville is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 22,484 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Coralville <5>
- Frytown
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frytown
- Frytown is located in Johnson County
- Graham ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Iowa City
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa City
- Iowa City is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 76,608 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Iowa City <5>
- Iowa Junction ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Iowa Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iowa Junction
- Iowa Junction is located in Washington County
- Lone Tree
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lone Tree have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Tree
- Lone Tree is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,384 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lone Tree <5>
- River Junction
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Junction
- River Junction is located in Johnson County
- University Heights
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for University Heights have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for University Heights
- University Heights is located in Johnson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,025 people
How Far From Hills 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 city such as Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Hills and extending to:
- Iowa City, which is the Seat of Johnson County, lies just to the North.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 107 miles [172.2 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Hills to Des Moines, with an average speed<6>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 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 785 miles [1,263.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 31 days and walking would take 45 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,338 miles [10,200 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,084 miles [11,400.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,974 miles [8,004.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Hills. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Johnson County: www.johnson-county.com/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.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- Hills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.5561, Longitude: -91.5353 In this case, the coordinates for Hills 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 Hills 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 Hills, 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> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Hills to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.055 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.281 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.605 degrees. |