RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wyoming >> Washakie County >> West River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West River 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 West River:
    • 44.097744, -107.954823
    • 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 West River
  • 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 Washakie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washakie County
    • Since West River is near Big Horn County and also Hot Springs County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Big Horn County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hot Springs 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 West River

Communities Also Named West River ...

We found six communities that are also named West River.

Within Wyoming, the name West River is unique.

Beyond Wyoming, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This West River is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 1,651 miles [2,657 km]<1> to the east of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of West River.
    • New Brunswick
      • This West River lies 2,086 miles [3,357.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
    • New York
      • Yates 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 New York community of West River [Yates County].
    • Nova Scotia
      • This West River lies 2,219 miles [3,571.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
    • Ontario
      • This West River lies 1,278 miles [2,056.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This West River lies 2,151 miles [3,461.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West River ...

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 West River 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 West River 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<4> community of West River once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in West River and extending to:

  • Worland, which is the Seat of Washakie County, lies just to the South.
  • Cheyenne, which is the State Capital of Wyoming, lies 259 miles [416.8 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from West River to Cheyenne, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,628 miles [2,620 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 64 days and walking would take 93 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,699 miles [10,781 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,467 miles [12,017 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,441 miles [8,756.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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- West River) 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 West River 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 West River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 West River 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 West River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0977, Longitude: -107.9548    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.123 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.514 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.129 degrees.