RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Cowlitz County >> Cougar >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cougar, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cougar 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 Cougar:
    • 46.052126, -122.300804
    • 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 Cougar
  • 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 Cowlitz County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cowlitz County
    • Since Cougar is near Clark County and also Skamania County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Skamania 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 Cougar

Communities Also Named Cougar ...

We found two communities that are also named Cougar.

There is one other community in Washington that is also named Cougar.

Beyond Washington, there is another community also named Cougar in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Washington ...
    • Spokane 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 Washington community of Cougar [Spokane County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Siskiyou County
      • This Cougar is located in Siskiyou County and lies 308 miles [495.7 km]<2> to the south of the Cougar that is located in Cowlitz County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Siskiyou County community of Cougar.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cougar ...

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.

  • Alpine
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Alpine is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Amboy
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Cedarville
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Cedarville is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedarville
  • Dole
    (18 miles [29 km] to the south)
    • Dole is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dole
  • Hall
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Hall is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall
  • Harmony Falls Landing
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Harmony Falls Landing is located in Skamania County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harmony Falls Landing
  • Highland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Highland is located in Clark County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highland
  • Lewisville
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Pigeon Springs
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Pigeon Springs is located in Cowlitz County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pigeon Springs
  • Woodland Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Woodland Park is located in Cowlitz County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodland Park

How Far From Cougar to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Cougar to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Kelso, which is the Seat of Cowlitz County, lies 29 miles [46.7 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cougar to Kelso, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 73 miles [117.5 km] to the north northwest (NNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,324 miles [3,740.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 132 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,874 miles [11,062.6 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 7,637 miles [12,290.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,749 miles [9,252.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 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 Cougar 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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Cougar) 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 Cougar 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 Cougar. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.0521, Longitude: -122.3008    
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.768 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.228 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.845 degrees.