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:
- 32.454586, -91.453728
- 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 parish-by-parish basis. We have selected Madison Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Madison Parish
- Since Altoona is near Richland Parish and also Franklin Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Richland Parish
- eBird sighting report for Franklin Parish
- 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 Louisiana, the name Altoona is unique.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Florida
- Iowa
- Kansas
- 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.
- Bakers
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Bear Skin
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northwest) - Crowville
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crowville
- Crowville is located in Franklin Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Crowville <4>
- Floyd
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north) - Floyd Landing
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Floyd Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floyd Landing
- Floyd Landing is located in West Carroll Parish
- Holly Ridge
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holly Ridge
- Holly Ridge is located in Richland Parish
- Indian Landing
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Landing
- Indian Landing is located in Madison Parish
- Longview
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest) - Sunrise Landing
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sunrise Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunrise Landing
- Sunrise Landing is located in Franklin Parish
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 community 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:
- Tallulah, which is the Seat of Madison Parish, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Altoona to Tallulah, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 139 miles [223.7 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 921 miles [1,482.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 53 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,794 miles [10,933.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,512 miles [12,089.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,387 miles [8,669.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Altoona. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions 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: 32.4546, Longitude: -91.4537 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 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 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 parish. 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 316.444 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.354 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.393 degrees. |