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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Maple Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Maple Valley 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 Valley:
    • 44.305297, -84.491128
    • 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 Valley
  • 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 Roscommon County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Roscommon County
    • Since Maple Valley is near Ogemaw County and also Gladwin 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 Gladwin 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 Valley

Communities Also Named Maple Valley ...

We found eight communities that are also named Maple Valley.

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

Beyond Michigan, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, seven are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Located In Michigan ...
    • Montcalm 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 Valley [Montcalm County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Henry County
      • This Maple Valley is located in Henry County and lies 311 miles [500.5 km]<2> to the south of the Maple Valley that is located in Roscommon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Henry County community of Maple Valley.
    • New York
      • Monroe 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 New York community of Maple Valley [Monroe County].
      • Otsego County
      • This Maple Valley is located in Otsego County and lies 499 miles [803.1 km]<2> to the east of the Maple Valley that is located in Roscommon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Otsego County community of Maple Valley.
    • North Carolina
      • Caldwell County
      • This Maple Valley is located in Caldwell County and lies 602 miles [968.8 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Maple Valley that is located in Roscommon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caldwell County community of Maple Valley.
    • Ohio
      • Summit County
      • This Maple Valley is located in Summit County and lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<2> to the southeast of the Maple Valley that is located in Roscommon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Summit County community of Maple Valley.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Maple Valley.
    • Washington
      • King County
      • This Maple Valley is located in King County and lies 1,801 miles [2,898.4 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Maple Valley that is located in Roscommon County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the King County community of Maple Valley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Maple Valley ...

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.

  • Butman
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Butman is located in Gladwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butman
  • Deerheart Valley
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
    • Deerheart Valley is located in Crawford County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deerheart Valley
  • Edwards
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Edwards is located in Ogemaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edwards
  • Greenwood
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Greenwood is located in Ogemaw County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Hillcrest
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Hillcrest is located in Roscommon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillcrest
  • Hockaday
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Hockaday is located in Gladwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hockaday
  • Keno
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Keno is located in Roscommon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keno
  • Meads Landing
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Meads Landing is located in Roscommon County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meads Landing
  • Podunk
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
    • Podunk is located in Gladwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Podunk
  • Sugar Rapids
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Sugar Rapids is located in Gladwin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Rapids

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

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

  • Roscommon, which is the Seat of Roscommon County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Maple Valley to Roscommon, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 108 miles [173.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 535 miles [861 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 5,952 miles [9,578.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,692 miles [10,769.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,577 miles [7,366 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Maple Valley 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Maple Valley) 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 Maple Valley 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 Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3053, Longitude: -84.4911       In this case, the coordinates for Maple Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.282 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.24 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.203 degrees.