RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Olyphant, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Olyphant 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 Olyphant:
    • 41.468363, -75.602920
    • 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 Olyphant
  • 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 Lackawanna County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lackawanna County
    • Since Olyphant is near Wayne County and also Luzerne County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wayne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Luzerne 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 Olyphant

Communities Also Named Olyphant ...

We found one communities that are also named Olyphant.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Olyphant is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, there is another community also named Olyphant in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Jackson County
      • This Olyphant is located in Jackson County and lies 944 miles [1,519.2 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Olyphant that is located in Lackawanna County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Olyphant.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Olyphant ...

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 Olyphant 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 Olyphant to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Olyphant and extending to:

  • Scranton, which is the Seat of Lackawanna County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 105 miles [169 km]<1> to the southwest (SW). If you could drive a straight line from Olyphant to Harrisburg, with an average speed<3>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 192 miles [309 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,730 miles [9,221.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,442 miles [10,367.4 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,318 miles [6,949.1 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Olyphant) 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>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.
<4>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 Olyphant 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 Olyphant. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4684, Longitude: -75.6029    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 306.824 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 302.635 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 303.036 degrees.