RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Mariposa County >> El Portal >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in El Portal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to El Portal 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 El Portal:
    • 37.675543, -119.782473
    • 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 El Portal
  • 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 Mariposa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mariposa County
    • Since El Portal is near Tuolumne County and also Madera County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Tuolumne County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madera 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 El Portal

Communities Also Named El Portal ...

We found two communities that are also named El Portal.

Within California, the name El Portal is unique.

Beyond California, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Florida
      • Hillsborough County
      • This El Portal is located in Hillsborough County and lies 2,247 miles [3,616.2 km]<1> to the east of the El Portal that is located in Mariposa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hillsborough County community of El Portal.
      • Miami-Dade County
      • This El Portal is located in Miami-Dade County and lies 2,442 miles [3,930 km] to the east of the El Portal that is located in Mariposa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Miami-Dade County community of El Portal.

Curious and Interesting Names Near El Portal ...

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 El Portal 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 El Portal to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Mariposa, which is the Seat of Mariposa County, lies 16 miles [25.7 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from El Portal to Mariposa, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 111 miles [178.6 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,296 miles [3,695.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 90 days and walking would take 131 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,370 miles [11,860.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,138 miles [13,096.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,166 miles [9,923.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

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- El Portal) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 El Portal 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 El Portal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.6755, Longitude: -119.7825    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 337.981 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.475 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.558 degrees.