Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McHenry, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McHenry and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McHenry
- 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 McHenry:
- 37.707429, -121.004102
- 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 McHenry
- 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 Stanislaus County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Stanislaus County
- Since McHenry is near San Joaquin County and also Merced County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for San Joaquin County
- eBird sighting report for Merced 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 McHenry ...
We found eight communities that share the name McHenry.
Within California, the name McHenry is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another eight communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Mississippi
- North Dakota
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near McHenry ...
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.
- Aurora
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Claus
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the east) - Empire
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
- Empire is located in Stanislaus County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Empire <4>
- Five Corners
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
- Five Corners is located in San Joaquin County
- Harp
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south) - Riverbank
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Riverbank
- Riverbank is located in Stanislaus County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 24,710 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Riverbank <4>
- Valley Home
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valley Home have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Home
- Valley Home is located in Stanislaus County
- Van Allen
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
How Far From McHenry 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 McHenry to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McHenry and extending to:
- Modesto, which is the Seat of Stanislaus County, lies just to the South.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<2> to the north northwest (NNW). If you could walk a straight line from McHenry to Sacramento, with an average speed<5> 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 about three full days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,360 miles [3,798.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 93 days and walking would take 134 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,392 miles [11,896.3 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 8,160 miles [13,132.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,200 miles [9,977.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McHenry. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Stanislaus County: www.co.stanislaus.ca.us/
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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 McHenry 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McHenry) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McHenry. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 37.7074, Longitude: -121.0041 In this case, the coordinates for McHenry have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 McHenry to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.005 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.709 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.298 degrees. |