Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy).
When in Afognak, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Afognak and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Afognak
- 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 Afognak:
- 58.022124, -152.765226
- 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 Afognak
- 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Afognak ...
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.
In the vicinity of Afognak, Womens Bay is located 23 miles [37 km]<1> to the South
How Far From Afognak 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 town such as Afognak 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 Afognak once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Afognak and extending to:
- Juneau, which is the State Capital of Alaska, lies 666 miles [1,071.8 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Afognak to Juneau, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 38 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 26 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 3,496 miles [5,626.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 7 days, a buggy would take 137 days and walking would take 199 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,210 miles [9,994 km] and it lies to the north (N).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,895 miles [11,096.4 km] and it lies to the north (N).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,476 miles [8,812.8 km] and it lies to the north (N).<7>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Alaska: alaska.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Afognak) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Afognak. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 58.0221, Longitude: -152.7652 In this case, the coordinates for Afognak have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Afognak, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Afognak to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 6.795 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 11.887 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 348.858 degrees. |