Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Bison, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Bison and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Bison
- 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 Bison:
- 38.519771, -99.197834
- 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 Bison
- 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 Rush County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Rush County
- Since Bison is near Barton County and also Ellis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Barton County
- eBird sighting report for Ellis 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 Bison ...
We found five communities that share the name Bison.
Within Kansas, the name Bison is unique.
Beyond Kansas, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Montana
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- West Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Bison ...
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.
- Anchorway
(23 miles [37 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Anchorway
- Anchorway is located in Barton County
- Beaver
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the east) - Catharine
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north) - Dundee
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dundee
- Dundee is located in Barton County
- Great Bend
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Great Bend
- Great Bend is located in Barton County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 14,901 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Great Bend <4>
- Hays
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hays
- Hays is located in Ellis County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 20,829 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hays <4>
- La Crosse
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for La Crosse have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Crosse
- La Crosse is located in Rush County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,197 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for La Crosse <4>
- Radium
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Radium
- Radium is located in Stafford County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 23 people
- Redwing
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east) - Rush Center
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rush Center have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rush Center
- Rush Center is located in Rush County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 152 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rush Center <4>
How Far From Bison to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Bison to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Bison and extending to:
- La Crosse, which is the Seat of Rush County, lies just to the West.
- Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 193 miles [310.6 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Bison to Topeka, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,191 miles [1,916.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 47 days and walking would take 68 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,760 miles [10,879.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,513 miles [12,091 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,413 miles [8,711.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Bison. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Kansas: https://portal.kansas.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 drawn from Point A (ie- Bison) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Bison. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5198, Longitude: -99.1978 In this case, the coordinates for Bison 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 Bison 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 Bison 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 322.204 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.844 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.074 degrees. |