RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Utah >> Grand County >> Wilson's Mesa >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Wilson's Mesa, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Wilson's Mesa 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 Wilson's Mesa:
    • 38.542602, -109.369859
    • 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 Wilson's Mesa
  • 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 Grand County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Grand County
    • Since Wilson's Mesa is near San Juan County and also Mesa County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Juan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mesa 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 Wilson's Mesa

Curious and Interesting Names Near Wilson's Mesa ...

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 Wilson's Mesa 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 Wilson's Mesa 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<2> community of Wilson's Mesa once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Wilson's Mesa and extending to:

  • Moab, which is the Seat of Grand County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<3> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Wilson's Mesa to Moab, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Salt Lake City, which is the State Capital of Utah, lies 203 miles [326.7 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,732 miles [2,787.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 68 days and walking would take 99 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,067 miles [11,373.2 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 7,833 miles [12,606 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,781 miles [9,303.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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>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 Wilson's Mesa, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Wilson's Mesa) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Wilson's Mesa 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 Wilson's Mesa. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5426, Longitude: -109.3699    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.732 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.694 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 320.491 degrees.