Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mastodon, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mastodon and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Mastodon
- 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 Mastodon:
- 46.018689, -88.346986
- 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 Mastodon
- 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 Iron County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Iron County
- Since Mastodon is near Florence County and also Dickinson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Florence County
- eBird sighting report for Dickinson 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 Mastodon ...
We found two communities that share the name Mastodon.
Within Michigan, the name Mastodon is unique.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Mississippi
- New Mexico
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mastodon ...
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.
- Alpha
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpha
- Alpha is located in Iron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 135 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Alpha <3>
- Clinch ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north) - Crystal Falls
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Falls
- Crystal Falls is located in Iron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,364 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crystal Falls <3>
- Florence
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
- Florence is located in Florence County (WI)
- Fortune Lake
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fortune Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fortune Lake
- Fortune Lake is located in Iron County
- Hematite
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast) - Ridgetop
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast) - Western Location
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Western Location have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Western Location
- Western Location is located in Iron County
How Far From Mastodon to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Mastodon to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Mastodon and extending to:
- Crystal Falls, which is the Seat of Iron County, lies just to the North.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 294 miles [473.1 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Mastodon to Lansing, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 17 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 12 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 756 miles [1,216.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 30 days and walking would take 43 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,007 miles [9,667.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,757 miles [10,874.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,656 miles [7,493.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Mastodon. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Iron County: www.iron.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 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 Mastodon 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mastodon) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mastodon. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.0187, Longitude: -88.3470 In this case, the coordinates for Mastodon have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Mastodon to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.832 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.373 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.655 degrees. |