RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Jefferson County >> Horse Heaven >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Horse Heaven, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Horse Heaven and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Horse Heaven:
    • 44.715613, -120.507351
    • 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 Horse Heaven
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Horse Heaven is near Wasco County and also Wheeler County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wasco County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wheeler 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 Horse Heaven

Communities Also Named Horse Heaven ...

We found two communities that are also named Horse Heaven.

Within Oregon, the name Horse Heaven is unique.

Beyond Oregon, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Connecticut
      • Litchfield County
      • This Horse Heaven is located in Litchfield County and lies 2,354 miles [3,788.4 km]<1> to the east of the Horse Heaven that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Litchfield County community of Horse Heaven.
    • Washington
      • Benton County
      • This Horse Heaven is located in Benton County and lies 106 miles [170.6 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Horse Heaven that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benton County community of Horse Heaven.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Horse Heaven ...

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.

How Far From Horse Heaven 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 community such as Horse Heaven 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 Horse Heaven once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Horse Heaven and extending to:

  • Madras, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 31 miles [49.9 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Horse Heaven to Madras, with an average speed<4> 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.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 124 miles [199.6 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,245 miles [3,613 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 88 days and walking would take 128 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,931 miles [11,154.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,696 miles [12,385.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,780 miles [9,302 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Horse Heaven) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Horse Heaven, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Horse Heaven 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 Horse Heaven. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7156, Longitude: -120.5074    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.203 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.327 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.772 degrees.