RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> Commonwealth of Pennsylvania >> Indiana County >> Pikes Peak >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Pikes Peak, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Pikes Peak 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 Pikes Peak:
    • 40.598400, -79.010864
    • 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 Pikes Peak
  • 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 Indiana County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Indiana County
    • Since Pikes Peak is near Cambria County and also Westmoreland County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cambria County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Westmoreland 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 Pikes Peak

Communities Also Named Pikes Peak ...

We found five communities that are also named Pikes Peak.

Within Pennsylvania, the name Pikes Peak is unique.

Beyond Pennsylvania, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • El Paso County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Pikes Peak [El Paso County].
    • Georgia
      • Twiggs County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Georgia community of Pikes Peak [Twiggs County].
    • Indiana
      • Brown County
      • This Pikes Peak is located in Brown County and lies 391 miles [629.3 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Pikes Peak that is located in Indiana County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Brown County community of Pikes Peak.
    • Louisiana
      • Saint James Parish
      • This Pikes Peak is located in Saint James Parish and lies 987 miles [1,588.4 km]<2> to the southwest of the Pikes Peak that is located in Indiana County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint James Parish community of Pikes Peak.
    • Michigan
      • Wayne County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Pikes Peak [Wayne County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Pikes Peak ...

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.

  • Adams Crossing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Adams Crossing is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Adams Crossing
  • Buck Run
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Buck Run is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Buck Run
  • Charlies Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Charlies Grove is located in Cambria County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charlies Grove
  • Chestnut Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Chestnut Grove is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Grove
  • Chevy Chase Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Chevy Chase Heights is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chevy Chase Heights
  • Diamondville
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Diamondville is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamondville
  • Fowler Heights
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Fowler Heights is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fowler Heights
  • Grandview
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Grandview is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Ideal
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Ideal is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ideal
  • Indiana
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
  • Learn Settlement
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Learn Settlement is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Learn Settlement
  • Littletown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Littletown is located in Indiana County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Littletown
  • Continue List   (9 more) ...
    • Manor
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Manor is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Manor
    • Pleasant Hill
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
      • Pleasant Hill is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
    • Rembrant
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
      • Rembrant is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rembrant
    • Sample Run
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)
      • Sample Run is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sample Run
    • Starford
      (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
      • Starford is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Starford
    • Strongstown
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Suncliff
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
      • Suncliff is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Suncliff
    • Tide
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Tide is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tide
    • Upper Two Lick
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
      • Upper Two Lick is located in Indiana County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Upper Two Lick

How Far From Pikes Peak 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 Pikes Peak to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Indiana, which is the Seat of Indiana County, lies just to the West Northwest.
  • Harrisburg, which is the State Capital of Pennsylvania, lies 114 miles [183.5 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Pikes Peak to Harrisburg, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 157 miles [252.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,907 miles [9,506.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,623 miles [10,658.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,498 miles [7,238.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Pikes Peak could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Pikes Peak) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Pikes Peak 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 Pikes Peak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.5984, Longitude: -79.0109       In this case, the coordinates for Pikes Peak have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 308.972 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.93 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 304.922 degrees.