Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in La Porte, we use the following websites to find information relevant to La Porte and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for La Porte
- 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 La Porte:
- 39.683147, -120.986451
- 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 La Porte
- 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 Plumas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Plumas County
- Since La Porte is near Sierra County and also Yuba County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Sierra County
- eBird sighting report for Yuba 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named La Porte ...
We found four communities that share the name La Porte.
Within California, the name La Porte is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near La Porte ...
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.
- Deadwood ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the east) - Eureka ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast) - Grass Flat
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Grass Flat have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Flat
- Grass Flat is located in Sierra County
- Howland Flat ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Howland Flat have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howland Flat
- Howland Flat is located in Sierra County
- Little Grass Valley
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Grass Valley
- Little Grass Valley is located in Plumas County
- Mount Pleasant
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
- Mount Pleasant is located in Sierra County
- Poverty Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Poverty Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poverty Hill
- Poverty Hill is located in Sierra County
- Queen City
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Queen City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Queen City
- Queen City is located in Sierra County
- Scales ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Union Hill
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Union Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill
- Union Hill is located in Sierra County
How Far From La Porte 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 La Porte to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in La Porte and extending to:
- Quincy, which is the Seat of Plumas County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the north. If you could walk a straight line from La Porte to Quincy, with an average speed<4> 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 80 miles [128.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). 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 2,325 miles [3,741.7 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 133 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,264 miles [11,690.3 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 8,031 miles [12,924.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,085 miles [9,792.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for La Porte. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Plumas County: www.countyofplumas.com/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
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 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 La Porte 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 'straight-line' (or 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- La Porte) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in La Porte. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6831, Longitude: -120.9865 |
| <3> | The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required. |
| <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 La Porte to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.194 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.041 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.268 degrees. |