Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in River Forest, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Forest and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for River Forest
- 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 River Forest:
- 41.895006, -87.819440
- 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 River Forest
- 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 Cook County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Cook County
- Since River Forest is near DuPage County and also Will County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for DuPage County
- eBird sighting report for Will 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 River Forest ...
We found six communities that share the name River Forest.
There is one other community in Illinois which is also named River Forest.
Beyond Illinois, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Illinois ...
- Winnebago County
- This River Forest is located in Winnebago County and lies 69 miles [111 km]<1> to the west northwest of the River Forest that is located in Cook County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winnebago County community of River Forest.
- Winnebago County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Lake County
- This River Forest is located in Lake County and lies 959 miles [1,543.4 km]<1> to the south southeast of the River Forest that is located in Cook County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lake County community of River Forest.
- Georgia
- Fayette County
- This River Forest is located in Fayette County and lies 605 miles [973.7 km]<1> to the south southeast of the River Forest that is located in Cook County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of River Forest.
- Indiana
- Madison County
- This River Forest is located in Madison County and lies 164 miles [263.9 km]<1> to the southeast of the River Forest that is located in Cook County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Madison County community of River Forest.
- Maryland
- Prince George's County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Maryland community of River Forest [Prince George's County].
- South Carolina
- Spartanburg County
- This River Forest is located in Spartanburg County and lies 568 miles [914.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the River Forest that is located in Cook County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Spartanburg County community of River Forest.
- Florida
Curious and Interesting Names Near River Forest ...
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.
- Clyde
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast) - Forest Park
(Less than 2 miles to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Forest Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Forest Park
- Forest Park is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 13,534 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Forest Park <4>
- Galewood
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast) - Grayland
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Hillside
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hillside
- Hillside is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 7,785 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hillside <4>
- Humboldt Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Humboldt Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Humboldt Park
- Humboldt Park is located in Cook County
- Lyons
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lyons have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
- Lyons is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 10,247 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lyons <4>
- Martin Luther
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Martin Luther have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin Luther
- Martin Luther is located in Cook County
- Maywood
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maywood
- Maywood is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 22,868 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Maywood <4>
- Portage Park
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Portage Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Portage Park
- Portage Park is located in Cook County
- Six Corners
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Six Corners have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Six Corners
- Six Corners is located in Cook County
- Stone Park
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Stone Park have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stone Park
- Stone Park is located in Cook County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,764 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Stone Park <4>
- Whiskey Point
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whiskey Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Point
- Whiskey Point is located in Cook County
How Far From River Forest to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a village such as River Forest to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in River Forest and extending to:
- Chicago, which is the Seat of Cook County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<1> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from River Forest to Chicago, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Springfield, which is the State Capital of Illinois, lies 174 miles [280 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 603 miles [970.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,188 miles [9,958.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,927 miles [11,147.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,811 miles [7,742.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for River Forest: www.ci.river-forest.il.us/
The official website for Cook County: www.co.cook.il.us/
The official website for State of Illinois: https://illinois.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- River Forest) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in River Forest. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.8950, Longitude: -87.8194 In this case, the coordinates for River Forest 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek 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 River Forest 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 River Forest 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 314.56 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.475 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.654 degrees. |