Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Altoona, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altoona and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Altoona
- 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 Altoona:
- 41.646585, -93.477347
- 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 Altoona
- 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Since Altoona is near Jasper County and also Warren County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Jasper County
- eBird sighting report for Warren 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 Altoona ...
We found ten communities that share the name Altoona.
Within Iowa, the name Altoona is unique.
Beyond Iowa, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Florida
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Minnesota
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- South Dakota
- Washington
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Altoona ...
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.
- Carbondale
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Carbondale have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carbondale
- Carbondale is located in Polk County
- Elkhart
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhart
- Elkhart is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 952 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elkhart <4>
- Enterprise
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Enterprise have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
- Enterprise is located in Polk County
- Ford
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast) - Green Castle
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Green Castle
- Green Castle is located in Jasper County
- Ivy
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Mingo
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mingo
- Mingo is located in Jasper County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 309 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mingo <4>
- Pleasant Hill
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pleasant Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pleasant Hill
- Pleasant Hill is located in Polk County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,025 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pleasant Hill <4>
- Prairie City
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie City
- Prairie City is located in Jasper County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,721 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prairie City <4>
- Prairiebell
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairiebell have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairiebell
- Prairiebell is located in Jasper County
- Rising Sun
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rising Sun have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rising Sun
- Rising Sun is located in Polk County
- Scotch Ridge
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Scotch Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scotch Ridge
- Scotch Ridge is located in Warren County
- Valley Junction
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Valley Junction have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley Junction
- Valley Junction is located in Polk County
How Far From Altoona 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 city such as Altoona to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Altoona and extending to:
- Des Moines, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the West Southwest.
- Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies just to the west southwest (WSW).
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 885 miles [1,424.3 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Altoona to White House, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 51 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,401 miles [10,301.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,150 miles [11,506.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,045 miles [8,119.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Altoona: www.altoona-iowa.com/
The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.ia.us/
The official website for State of Iowa: https://www.iowa.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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- Altoona) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Altoona. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.6466, Longitude: -93.4773 In this case, the coordinates for Altoona 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 Altoona 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> | 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 Altoona 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 318.389 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.824 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.573 degrees. |