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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mecosta, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mecosta and the surrounding area.
- 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 Mecosta:
- 43.621118, -85.230489
- 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 Mecosta
- 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 Mecosta County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mecosta County
- Since Mecosta is near Isabella County and also Montcalm County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Isabella County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Montcalm 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 Mecosta
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mecosta ...
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.
- Big Rapids
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Canadian Lakes
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
- Canadian Lakes is located in Mecosta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canadian Lakes
- Drew
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
- Drew is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Drew
- Halls Corner
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)
- Halls Corner is located in Mecosta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halls Corner
- Lakeview
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
- Rustford
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Rustford is located in Mecosta County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rustford
- Six Lakes
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
- Two Rivers
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
- Two Rivers is located in Isabella County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Rivers
How Far From Mecosta 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 village such as Mecosta to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Mecosta and extending to:
- Big Rapids, which is the Seat of Mecosta County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Mecosta to Big Rapids, 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 70 miles [112.7 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take three full 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 6,011 miles [9,673.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,750 miles [10,863.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,635 miles [7,459.3 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- Mecosta) 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 Mecosta 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 Mecosta. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.6211, Longitude: -85.2305 In this case, the coordinates for Mecosta have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.803 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.729 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.817 degrees. |
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