Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Porthill, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Porthill and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Porthill
- 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 Porthill:
- 48.998286, -116.497989
- 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 Porthill
- 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 Boundary County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Boundary 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Porthill ...
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.
- Canyon
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Canyon
- Eileen
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southeast) - Goatfell
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goatfell
- Good Grief
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Good Grief have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Good Grief
- Good Grief is located in Boundary County
- Kingsgate
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the east) - Lister
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the north) - Meadow Creek
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Meadow Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meadow Creek
- Meadow Creek is located in Boundary County
- Threemile Corner
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Threemile Corner have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Threemile Corner
- Threemile Corner is located in Boundary County
How Far From Porthill 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 Porthill to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Porthill and extending to:
- Bonners Ferry, which is the Seat of Boundary County, lies 23 miles [37 km]<3> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Porthill to Bonners Ferry, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- Boise City, which is the State Capital of Idaho, lies 372 miles [598.7 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 6 hours, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,054 miles [3,305.6 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 4 days, a buggy would take 81 days and walking would take 117 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,586 miles [10,599.1 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 7,352 miles [11,831.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,429 miles [8,737.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Porthill. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Boundary County: www.boundary-idaho.com/
The official website for State of Idaho: https://idaho.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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. |
| <2> | If we found a location and have questions about the accuracy of our information, we will simply say that the marker is 'in the vicinity'. We are not confident about the location and the position of our marker is only a rough guide. If we have too many doubts about the location, we will not include it in our database. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Porthill) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Porthill. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.9983, Longitude: -116.4980 In this case, the coordinates for Porthill have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Porthill 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 336.149 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.056 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 323.815 degrees. |