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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in West Iron Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Iron Hills and the surrounding area.
- 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 West Iron Hills:
- 42.142237, -90.791804
- 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 West Iron 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 Jackson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jackson County
- Since West Iron Hills is near Jones County and also Clinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Jones County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton 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 West Iron Hills
Curious and Interesting Names Near West Iron 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.
- Clay Mills
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
- Clay Mills is located in Jones County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clay Mills
- Cottonville
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cottonville is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonville
- Crab Town
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)
- Crab Town is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crab Town
- Garry Owen
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
- Garry Owen is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garry Owen
- Ironhills
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Ironhills is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ironhills
- Lost Nation
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Otter Creek
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
- Otter Creek is located in Jackson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Otter Creek
- Temple Hill
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Temple Hill is located in Jones County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple Hill
- Wyoming
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
How Far From West Iron 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 community such as West Iron Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in West Iron Hills and extending to:
- Maquoketa, which is the Seat of Jackson County, lies just to the Southeast.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 150 miles [241.4 km]<2> to the west southwest (WSW). If you could drive a straight line from West Iron Hills to Des Moines, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 754 miles [1,213.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,283 miles [10,111.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,028 miles [11,310.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,918 miles [7,914.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- West Iron Hills) 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 West Iron Hills 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 West Iron Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1422, Longitude: -90.7918 In this case, the coordinates for West Iron Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.559 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.793 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.079 degrees. |
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