Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Iron Rod, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iron Rod and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Iron Rod
- 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 Iron Rod:
- 45.643537, -112.309168
- 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 Iron Rod
- 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 Madison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Madison County
- Since Iron Rod is near Silver Bow County and also Jefferson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Silver Bow 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 Iron Rod ...
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.
- Cedric
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north) - Centerville ‑ Historic
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centerville have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Centerville is located in Madison County
- Donald
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest) - Grace
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north) - Mammoth
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mammoth
- Mammoth is located in Madison County
- Moose Town
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moose Town have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moose Town
- Moose Town is located in Silver Bow County
- Red Mountain ‑ Historic
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Red Mountain have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mountain
- Red Mountain is located in Silver Bow County
- Silver Star
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Star
- Silver Star is located in Madison County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Silver Star <2>
- Strawberry ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the east)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Strawberry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Strawberry is located in Madison County
- Twin Bridges
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Bridges have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridges
- Twin Bridges is located in Madison County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 434 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Twin Bridges <2>
How Far From Iron Rod 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 Iron Rod 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<4> community of Iron Rod once stood, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Iron Rod and extending to:
- Virginia City, which is the Seat of Madison County, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<5> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Iron Rod to Virginia City, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 66 miles [106.2 km] to the north (N). 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 1,845 miles [2,969.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 72 days and walking would take 105 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,710 miles [10,798.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,479 miles [12,036.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,495 miles [8,843.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
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> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Iron Rod, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <5> | 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- Iron Rod) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Iron Rod. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.6435, Longitude: -112.3092 In this case, the coordinates for Iron Rod have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Iron Rod 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 332.626 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.722 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.56 degrees. |