Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rochester Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rochester Hills and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rochester Hills
- 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 Rochester Hills:
- 42.665936, -83.153478
- 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 Rochester Hills
- 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 Oakland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Oakland County
- Since Rochester Hills is near Macomb County and also Lapeer County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Macomb County
- eBird sighting report for Lapeer 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rochester Hills ...
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 Beaver
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Beaver have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Beaver
- Big Beaver is located in Oakland County
- Charing Cross
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Charing Cross have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charing Cross
- Charing Cross is located in Oakland County
- Decker ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest) - Disco ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Disco
- Disco is located in Macomb County
- Former name for Disco:
- Whiskey Center
- Gas Settlement ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Gas Settlement. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gas Settlement
- Gas Settlement is located in Macomb County
- Grays' Mills ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grays' Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grays' Mills
- Grays' Mills is located in Macomb County
- Former names for Grays' Mills:
- Clifton Mill
- Clifton Village
- Clifton
- Lake Orion
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Orion
- Lake Orion is located in Oakland County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 3,191 people
- Former names for Lake Orion:
- Canandaigua City
- New Canandaigua
- Oakland
- Orion
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lake Orion <3>
- Lakeville
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeville
- Lakeville is located in Oakland County
- Oak Grove
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Plumb Brook ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Plumb Brook. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<2>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plumb Brook
- Plumb Brook is located in Macomb County
- Plumb Brook has also been known as:
- Plum Brook
- Plumbrook Village
- Plumbrook
- Spinnings ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast) - Stony Creek
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stony Creek
- Stony Creek is located in Oakland County
- Stony Creek has also been known as:
- Stoney Creek Village
- Stoney Creek
- Stony Creek Village
How Far From Rochester Hills 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 Rochester Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Rochester Hills and extending to:
- Pontiac, which is the Seat of Oakland County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 71 miles [114.3 km]<4> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Rochester Hills to Lansing, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 4 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 412 miles [663 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 24 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,978 miles [9,620.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,710 miles [10,798.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,590 miles [7,386.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rochester Hills: www.rochesterhills.org/
The official website for Oakland County: www.co.oakland.mi.us/
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Rochester Hills) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rochester Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6659, Longitude: -83.1535 In this case, the coordinates for Rochester Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Rochester Hills to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 311.479 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.086 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.112 degrees. |