RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Utah >> Summit County >> Altus >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Altus, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altus 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 Altus:
    • 40.752674, -111.618268
    • 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 Altus
  • 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 Summit County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Summit County
    • Since Altus is near Salt Lake County and also Wasatch County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Salt Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wasatch 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 Altus

Communities Also Named Altus ...

We found five communities that are also named Altus.

Within Utah, the name Altus is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Franklin County
      • This Altus is located in Franklin County and lies 1,034 miles [1,664.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Altus that is located in Summit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Altus.
    • Mississippi
      • Lafayette County
      • This Altus is located in Lafayette County and lies 1,290 miles [2,076.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Altus that is located in Summit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafayette County community of Altus.
    • Oklahoma
      • Jackson County
      • This Altus is located in Jackson County and lies 792 miles [1,274.6 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Altus that is located in Summit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Altus.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bradford County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Altus [Bradford County].
    • Wyoming
      • Laramie County
      • This Altus is located in Laramie County and lies 336 miles [540.7 km]<1> to the east of the Altus that is located in Summit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Laramie County community of Altus.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Altus ...

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.

  • Forest Home
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)
    • Forest Home is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Home
  • Jeremy Ranch
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Jeremy Ranch is located in Summit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jeremy Ranch
  • Little Mountain
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Little Mountain is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Mountain
  • Maple City
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Maple City is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple City
  • Merrywood
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Merrywood is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Merrywood
  • Mountain Top Park
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Mountain Top Park is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Top Park
  • Pine Lodge
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pine Lodge is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Lodge
  • Pine Tree
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pine Tree is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Tree
  • Pinecrest
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Pinecrest is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pinecrest
  • Quad
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Quad is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quad
  • Silver Springs
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Silver Springs is located in Summit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Springs
  • Spring Glen
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
    • Spring Glen is located in Salt Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Spring Glen
  • Summit Park
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Summit Park is located in Summit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Summit Park

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Altus once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Altus and extending to:

  • Coalville, which is the Seat of Summit County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Altus to Coalville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Salt Lake City, which is the State Capital of Utah, lies 14 miles [22.5 km] to the west (W). The buggy would take four to five hours and walking would take most of a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,826 miles [2,938.7 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 72 days and walking would take 104 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,992 miles [11,252.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,760 miles [12,488.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,738 miles [9,234.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Altus) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Altus 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>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Altus, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Altus 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 Altus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 40.7527, Longitude: -111.6183    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.709 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 331.231 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.61 degrees.