RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Idaho >> Ada County >> Collister >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Collister, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Collister 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 Collister:
    • 43.659231, -116.248391
    • 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 Collister
  • 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 Ada County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ada County
    • Since Collister is near Boise County and also Gem County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Boise County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gem 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 Collister

Curious and Interesting Names Near Collister ...

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.

  • Barber
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Barber is located in Ada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Barber
  • Cloverdale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Cloverdale is located in Ada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cloverdale
  • Eagle
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
  • Garden City
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
  • Hillcrest
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Hillcrest is located in Ada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Meridian
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
  • Pearl
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
  • Star
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Ustick
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Ustick is located in Ada County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ustick

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Collister and extending to:

  • Boise, which is the Seat of Ada County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Boise, which is the State Capital of Idaho, lies just to the southeast (SE).
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,041 miles [3,284.7 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Collister to White House, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take 4 days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 116 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 80 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,917 miles [11,131.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,686 miles [12,369.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,721 miles [9,207.1 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Collister) 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 Collister 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 Collister. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.6592, Longitude: -116.2484    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.648 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.094 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.169 degrees.