Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Colton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Colton and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Colton
- 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 Colton:
- 30.149657, -97.697225
- 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 Colton
- 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 Travis County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Travis County
- Since Colton is near Bastrop County and also Hays County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Bastrop County
- eBird sighting report for Hays 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Colton ...
We found nine communities that share the name Colton.
Within Texas, the name Colton is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another nine communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- California
- Kentucky
- Nebraska
- New York
- Ohio
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Utah
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Colton ...
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.
- Carl
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Elysium
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east) - Ford Oaks
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west) - Hays
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west) - Mendoza
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mendoza
- Mendoza is located in Caldwell County
- Mustang Ridge
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mustang Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mustang Ridge
- Mustang Ridge is located in Bastrop County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,001 people
- Onion Creek
(5 miles [8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Onion Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Onion Creek
- Onion Creek is located in Travis County
- Pilot Knob
(Less than 2 miles to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pilot Knob
- Pilot Knob is located in Travis County
- Pleasant Hill
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant Hill is located in Travis County
- Rollingwood
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rollingwood have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rollingwood
- Rollingwood is located in Travis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,571 people
- Shady Hollow
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shady Hollow have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Hollow
- Shady Hollow is located in Travis County
- Sunset Valley
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunset Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Valley
- Sunset Valley is located in Travis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 662 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Sunset Valley <4>
How Far From Colton 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 Colton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Colton and extending to:
- Austin, which is the Seat of Travis County, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies just to the north northwest (NNW).
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,317 miles [2,119.5 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could drive a straight line from Colton to White House, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 75 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 52 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,157 miles [11,518.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,886 miles [12,691.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,763 miles [9,274.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Colton. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Travis County: www.co.travis.tx.us/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Colton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Colton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1497, Longitude: -97.6972 In this case, the coordinates for Colton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Colton 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. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Colton 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 320.169 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.424 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.308 degrees. |