Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Ironwood, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Ironwood and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Ironwood
- 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 Ironwood:
- 46.453801, -90.169690
- 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 Ironwood
- 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 Gogebic County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Gogebic County
- Since Ironwood is near Iron County and also Ashland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Iron County
- eBird sighting report for Ashland 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 Ironwood ...
We found three communities that share the name Ironwood.
Within Michigan, the name Ironwood is unique.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Texas
- Utah
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Ironwood ...
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.
- Anvil
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Aurora
(Less than 2 miles to the east) - Carter
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the south) - Cedar
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west) - Gurney
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west) - Hillcrest
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
- Hillcrest is located in Gogebic County
- Iron Belt
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Jessieville
(Less than 2 miles to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Jessieville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jessieville
- Jessieville is located in Gogebic County
- Planter
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast) - Plymouth
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
How Far From Ironwood 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 city such as Ironwood to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Ironwood and extending to:
- Bessemer, which is the Seat of Gogebic County, lies just to the East Northeast.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 377 miles [606.7 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Ironwood to Lansing, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 22 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 15 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 844 miles [1,358.3 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 33 days and walking would take 48 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,046 miles [9,730.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,800 miles [10,943.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,706 miles [7,573.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Ironwood: www.cityofironwood.org/
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Ironwood 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. |
| <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- Ironwood) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Ironwood. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.4538, Longitude: -90.1697 |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Ironwood to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.091 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.859 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.514 degrees. |