RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Illinois >> McHenry County >> Lake-in-the-Hills >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Lake-in-the-Hills, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lake-in-the-Hills and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Lake-in-the-Hills:
    • 42.180749, -88.303809
    • 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.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Lake-in-the-Hills
  • 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 McHenry County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McHenry County
    • Since Lake-in-the-Hills is near Kane County and also Cook County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kane County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cook 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:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Lake-in-the-Hills

Curious and Interesting Names Near Lake-in-the-Hills ...

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.

  • Carpentersville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Crystal Gardens
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Crystal Gardens is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Gardens
  • Crystal Lake
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Crystal Vista
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northwest)
    • Crystal Vista is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal Vista
  • Cuba
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Cuba is located in Lake County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cuba
  • Fox River Grove
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
  • Freeman
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Freeman is located in Kane County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freeman
  • Gilberts
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Prairie Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Prairie Grove is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Grove
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,920 people
  • Silver Lake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Silver Lake is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver Lake
  • Ski Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Ski Hill is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ski Hill
  • Sleepy Hollow
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
  • Trout Valley
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Trout Valley is located in McHenry County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trout Valley
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 508 people

How Far From Lake-in-the-Hills 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 village such as Lake-in-the-Hills to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Lake-in-the-Hills and extending to:

  • Woodstock, which is the Seat of McHenry County, lies 11 miles [17.7 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lake-in-the-Hills to Woodstock, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 179 miles [288.1 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 632 miles [1,017.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 25 days and walking would take 36 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,192 miles [9,965.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,933 miles [11,157.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,818 miles [7,753.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<2>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Lake-in-the-Hills) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Lake-in-the-Hills to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lake-in-the-Hills. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.1807, Longitude: -88.3038       In this case, the coordinates for Lake-in-the-Hills have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 314.881 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.882 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.813 degrees.