RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Clare County >> Buck Trails >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Buck Trails, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Buck Trails 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 Buck Trails:
    • 44.101407, -84.857805
    • 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 Buck Trails
  • 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 Clare County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clare County
    • Since Buck Trails is near Missaukee County and also Roscommon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Missaukee County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roscommon 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 Buck Trails

Curious and Interesting Names Near Buck Trails ...

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.

  • Ash Acres
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Ash Acres is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ash Acres
  • Dover
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Dover is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dover
  • Lake George
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Lake George is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake George
  • Long Lake Heights
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Long Lake Heights is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Long Lake Heights
  • Marion
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
  • Piney Woods
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Piney Woods is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Piney Woods
  • Podunk
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Podunk is located in Gladwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Podunk
  • Prosper
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Prosper is located in Missaukee County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prosper
  • Rainbow Bend
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Rainbow Bend is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rainbow Bend
  • Temple
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Temple is located in Clare County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Temple

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

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

  • Harrison, which is the Seat of Clare County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Buck Trails to Lansing, with an average speed<3>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 three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 540 miles [869 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 31 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,975 miles [9,615.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,715 miles [10,806.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,600 miles [7,403 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- Buck Trails) 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 Buck Trails 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 Buck Trails. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1014, Longitude: -84.8578       In this case, the coordinates for Buck Trails have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.536 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.496 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.462 degrees.