RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> Cook County >> Hidden Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hidden Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hidden Lake 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 Hidden Lake:
    • 42.143915, -88.012018
    • 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 Hidden Lake
  • 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 Cook County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook County
    • Since Hidden Lake is near Lake County and also Kane County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kane 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 Hidden Lake

Communities Also Named Hidden Lake ...

We found four communities that are also named Hidden Lake.

Within Illinois, the name Hidden Lake is unique.

Beyond Illinois, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Adams County
      • This Hidden Lake is located in Adams County and lies 899 miles [1,446.8 km]<1> to the west of the Hidden Lake that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Adams County community of Hidden Lake.
    • Connecticut
      • Middlesex 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 Connecticut community of Hidden Lake [Middlesex County].
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This Hidden Lake is located in Hillsborough County and lies 1,015 miles [1,633.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Hidden Lake that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of Hidden Lake.
    • South Carolina
      • Anderson County
      • This Hidden Lake is located in Anderson County and lies 597 miles [960.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Hidden Lake that is located in Cook County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anderson County community of Hidden Lake.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hidden Lake ...

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 Creek
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Beaver Creek is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beaver Creek
  • Bishops Ridge
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bishops Ridge is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bishops Ridge
  • Buffalo Grove
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
  • Cedar Creek
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Cedar Creek is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedar Creek
  • Creekside
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Creekside is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Creekside
  • Deer Chase
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Deer Chase is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Chase
  • Deer Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Deer Lake is located in Cook County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Lake
  • Deer Park
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Forest Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Forest Lake is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Lake
  • Herons Crossing
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Herons Crossing is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Herons Crossing
  • Hickory Hills
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Hickory Hills is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hickory Hills
  • Long Grove
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
  • Continue List   (15 more) ...
    • Long Grove Valley
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Long Grove Valley is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Grove Valley
    • Meadowridge
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Meadowridge is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadowridge
    • Park Hill
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Park Hill is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park Hill
    • Pepper Tree
      (Less than 2 miles to the west)
      • Pepper Tree is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pepper Tree
    • Ponds
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Ponds is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ponds
    • Prairie Creek
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Prairie Creek is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Creek
    • Prairie View
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
      • Prairie View is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie View
    • Quail Run
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Quail Run is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quail Run
    • Quentin Corners
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Quentin Corners is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quentin Corners
    • Ravens Wing
      (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
      • Ravens Wing is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravens Wing
    • Rolling Meadows
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Squires
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Squires is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squires
    • Staples Corner
      (Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
      • Staples Corner is located in Cook County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Staples Corner
    • Tall Oaks
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
      • Tall Oaks is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tall Oaks
    • Tall Trees
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Tall Trees is located in Lake County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tall Trees

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

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

  • Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Hidden Lake to Chicago, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 184 miles [296.1 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 617 miles [993 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 35 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,183 miles [9,950.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,923 miles [11,141.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,808 miles [7,737.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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- Hidden Lake) 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 Hidden Lake 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 Hidden Lake 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 Hidden Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1439, Longitude: -88.0120       In this case, the coordinates for Hidden Lake have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.687 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.655 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.678 degrees.