RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Michigan >> Arenac County >> Maple Ridge >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Maple Ridge, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maple Ridge 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 Maple Ridge:
    • 44.141779, -83.927362
    • 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 Maple Ridge
  • 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 Arenac County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Arenac County
    • Since Maple Ridge is near Ogemaw County and also Iosco County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Ogemaw County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Iosco 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 Maple Ridge

Communities Also Named Maple Ridge ...

We found fifteen communities that are also named Maple Ridge.

There is one other community in Michigan that is also named Maple Ridge.

Beyond Michigan, we know of fourteen communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these fourteen communities, eleven are located in the United States and six are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Michigan ...
    • Delta County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Maple Ridge [Delta County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Maple Ridge lies 1,839 miles [2,959.6 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
    • Georgia
      • Gwinnett County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Gwinnett County and lies 698 miles [1,123.3 km]<2> to the south of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gwinnett County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Illinois
      • Cook County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Cook County and lies 241 miles [387.9 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cook County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Indiana
      • Marion County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Marion County and lies 331 miles [532.7 km]<2> to the south southwest of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 511 miles [822.4 km]<2> to the southeast of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Massachusetts
      • Norfolk County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Norfolk County and lies 642 miles [1,033.2 km]<2> to the east of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Norfolk County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Minnesota
      • Isanti County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Minnesota community of Maple Ridge [Isanti County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Maple Ridge lies 823 miles [1,324.5 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
    • Ohio
      • Mahoning County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Mahoning County and lies 266 miles [428.1 km]<2> to the southeast of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mahoning County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Ontario
      • This Maple Ridge lies 255 miles [410.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Somerset County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Somerset County and lies 373 miles [600.3 km]<2> to the southeast of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Somerset County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Quebec
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Quebec community of Maple Ridge.
    • South Carolina
      • Berkeley County
      • This Maple Ridge is located in Berkeley County and lies 797 miles [1,282.6 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Maple Ridge that is located in Arenac County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Berkeley County community of Maple Ridge.
    • Wisconsin
      • Douglas County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Wisconsin community of Maple Ridge [Douglas County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Maple Ridge ...

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.

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

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

  • Standish, which is the Seat of Arenac County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Maple Ridge to Standish, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 102 miles [164.2 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 507 miles [815.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,939 miles [9,557.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,677 miles [10,745.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,561 miles [7,340.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Maple Ridge 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Maple Ridge) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Maple Ridge 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 Maple Ridge. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1418, Longitude: -83.9274       In this case, the coordinates for Maple Ridge have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.915 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.801 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.973 degrees.