Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sentinel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sentinel and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sentinel
- 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 Sentinel:
- 36.964117, -119.492910
- 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 Sentinel
- 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 Fresno County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Fresno County
- Since Sentinel is near Madera County and also Nevada County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Madera County
- eBird sighting report for Nevada 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 Sentinel ...
We found six communities that share the name Sentinel.
Within California, the name Sentinel is unique.
Beyond California, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Kentucky
- Missouri
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sentinel ...
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.
- Avocado
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast) - Big Bunch
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south) - Big Sandy Rancheria
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Big Sandy Rancheria have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Sandy Rancheria
- Big Sandy Rancheria is located in Fresno County
- Elk
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south) - Gordon
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gordon
- Gordon is located in Fresno County
- Indian Springs
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Springs
- Indian Springs is located in Madera County
- Marshall Junction
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Marshall Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marshall Junction
- Marshall Junction is located in Fresno County
- Meadow Lakes
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Lakes
- Meadow Lakes is located in Fresno County
- Pineridge
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pineridge
- Pineridge is located in Fresno County
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Riverbend
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south) - Rock Haven
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rock Haven have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Haven
- Rock Haven is located in Fresno County
- Shaver Lake
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shaver Lake
- Shaver Lake is located in Fresno County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shaver Lake <4>
- Sparkville ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sparkville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sparkville
- Sparkville is located in Fresno County
- Tollhouse
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tollhouse
- Tollhouse is located in Fresno County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Tollhouse <4>
- Trimmer
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
- Riverbend
How Far From Sentinel 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 Sentinel 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<5> community of Sentinel once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sentinel and extending to:
- Fresno, which is the Seat of Fresno County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sentinel to Fresno, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 hours.
- Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 155 miles [249.4 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,295 miles [3,693.4 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<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,409 miles [11,923.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 8,178 miles [13,161.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,198 miles [9,974.7 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Fresno County: www.co.fresno.ca.us/
The official website for State of California: https://www.ca.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Sentinel) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sentinel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.9641, Longitude: -119.4929 In this case, the coordinates for Sentinel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Sentinel 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. |
| <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> | 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 Sentinel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Sentinel to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 337.658 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 338.044 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.387 degrees. |