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 Arpan, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Arpan and the surrounding area.

  • 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 Arpan:
    • 44.788319, -103.649085
    • 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 Arpan
  • 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 Butte County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butte County
    • Since Arpan is near Lawrence County and also Crook County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crook 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 Arpan

Curious and Interesting Names Near Arpan ...

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.

  • Castle Rock
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Castle Rock is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle Rock
  • Centennial City ‑ Historic
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Centennial City is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial City
  • Colony
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the west)
    • Colony is located in Crook County (WY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Colony
  • Crook City
    (23 miles [37 km] to the south)
    • Crook City is located in Lawrence County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
  • Empire
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
    • Empire is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
  • Fruitdale
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
  • Jolly
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Jolly is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jolly
  • Jolly Dump
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Jolly Dump is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jolly Dump
  • Spearfish
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Arpan and extending to:

  • Belle Fourche, which is the Seat of Butte County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Arpan to Belle Fourche, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 164 miles [263.9 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,420 miles [2,285.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 81 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,545 miles [10,533.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,310 miles [11,764.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,263 miles [8,470 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Arpan) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Arpan 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 Arpan. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.7883, Longitude: -103.6491       In this case, the coordinates for Arpan have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.877 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.828 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.515 degrees.