RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Union County >> Hot Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...










Learn About
The Commemorative
Quarter for
Oregon

The Commemorative Quarter for Oregon





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hot Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hot Lake 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 Hot Lake:
    • 45.245803, -117.960031
    • 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 Hot Lake
  • 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 Hot Lake ...

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.

  • Cove
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
  • Crooks
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crooks have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crooks
    • Crooks is located in Union County
  • Elk Flat ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elk Flat have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Flat
    • Elk Flat is located in Union County
  • Island City
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Little Alps
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Alps have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Alps
    • Little Alps is located in Baker County
  • Lone Tree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lone Tree have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Tree
    • Lone Tree is located in Union County
  • Medical Springs
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)
  • Rock Creek
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Creek
    • Rock Creek is located in Baker County
  • Summerville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the north)
  • Union
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
  • Union Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Junction
    • Union Junction is located in Union County

How Far From Hot Lake 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 Hot Lake to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Hot Lake and extending to:

  • La Grande, which is the Seat of Union County, lies just to the Northwest.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 248 miles [399.1 km]<4> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Hot Lake to Salem, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 14 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,119 miles [3,410.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 83 days and walking would take 121 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,851 miles [11,025.6 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 7,618 miles [12,260 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,680 miles [9,141.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Hot Lake. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Union County: www.union-county.org/

The official website for State of Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/

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>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.
<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>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 from Point A (ie- Hot Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Hot Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.2458, Longitude: -117.9600       In this case, the coordinates for Hot Lake 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 Hot Lake 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 337.147 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.956 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.118 degrees.




 

Copyright 2025
All Rights Reserved

Thank you for visiting our website.

In closing, please keep in mind that we can not guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the information on this website, so use with care. We encourage you to double-check the information that is critical to you.

If you've found an error or have additional information that you would like to share, please don't hesitate to write: Click here to contact us.

This page was last modified/updated: 30 Mar 2025