Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Blue Cloud, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Blue Cloud and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Blue Cloud
- 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 Blue Cloud:
- 46.591601, -112.159172
- 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 Blue Cloud
- 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 Lewis and Clark County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Lewis and Clark County
- Since Blue Cloud is near Powell County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Powell County
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson 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 Blue Cloud ...
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.
- Birdseye
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdseye
- Birdseye is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Frontier Town
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frontier Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier Town
- Frontier Town is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Gearing
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north) - Helena
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
- Helena is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 33,737 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Helena <2>
- Iron
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast) - Park City
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Seven Mile ‑ Historic
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Seven Mile have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Seven Mile
- Seven Mile is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Skyline
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest) - Unionville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Unionville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unionville
- Unionville is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Weed
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
How Far From Blue Cloud 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 Blue Cloud to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Blue Cloud once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Blue Cloud and extending to:
- Helena, which is the Seat of Lewis and Clark County, lies just to the East.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies just to the east (E).
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,841 miles [2,962.8 km]<4> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Blue Cloud to White House, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 105 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 72 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,648 miles [10,698.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,417 miles [11,936.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,439 miles [8,753.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Lewis and Clark County: www.co.lewis-clark.mt.us/
The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Blue Cloud, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Blue Cloud) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Blue Cloud. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5916, Longitude: -112.1592 In this case, the coordinates for Blue Cloud 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 Blue Cloud 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 332.558 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.724 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.354 degrees. |