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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Balance Rock, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Balance Rock 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 Balance Rock:
- 35.806062, -118.652033
- 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 Balance Rock
- 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 Tulare County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Tulare County
- Since Balance Rock is near Kern County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Kern 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 Balance Rock
Curious and Interesting Names Near Balance Rock ...
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.
- California Hot Springs
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Glennville
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
- Guernsey Mill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Guernsey Mill is located in Tulare County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Guernsey Mill
- Idlewild
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Idlewild is located in Tulare County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewild
- Pleasant View
(Less than 2 miles to the east)
- Pleasant View is located in Tulare County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant View
- Posey
(Less than 2 miles to the west)
- Sugarloaf Mountain Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)
- Sugarloaf Village
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Sugarloaf Village is located in Tulare County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugarloaf Village
How Far From Balance Rock 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 Balance Rock 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 Balance Rock once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Balance Rock and extending to:
- Visalia, which is the Seat of Tulare County, lies 51 miles [82.1 km]<3> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Balance Rock to Visalia, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of two days.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 246 miles [395.9 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,274 miles [3,659.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 89 days and walking would take 130 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,465 miles [12,013.8 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 8,234 miles [13,251.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,238 miles [10,039.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<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 Balance Rock, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Balance Rock) 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 Balance Rock 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 Balance Rock. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.8061, Longitude: -118.6520 In this case, the coordinates for Balance Rock have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.817 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.957 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.887 degrees. |
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