Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Basel, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Basel and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Basel
- 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 Basel:
- 30.737128, -91.345390
- 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 Basel
- 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 West Feliciana Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for West Feliciana Parish
- Since Basel is near Pointe Coupee Parish and also East Feliciana Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Pointe Coupee Parish
- eBird sighting report for East Feliciana 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
Curious and Interesting Names Near Basel ...
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.
- Anchor
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the south) - Elm Park
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north) - Freeland
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast) - Hardwood
(5 miles [8 km] to the northwest) - Hermitage
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hermitage
- Hermitage is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
- Island
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest) - Majors
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west) - Mount Pleasant
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Pleasant have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
- Mount Pleasant is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
- New Roads
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for New Roads
- New Roads is located in Pointe Coupee Parish
- Population from the 2020 Census: 4,409 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for New Roads <2>
- Port Hickey
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Hickey have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Hickey
- Port Hickey is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
- Port Hickey Landing
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Port Hickey Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<1> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Port Hickey Landing
- Port Hickey Landing is located in East Baton Rouge Parish
- Riddle
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Starhill
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
How Far From Basel 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 community such as Basel to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<3> community of Basel once stood, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Basel and extending to:
- Saint Francisville, which is the Seat of West Feliciana Parish, lies just to the North Northwest.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<4> to the south southeast (SSE). If you could walk a straight line from Basel to Baton Rouge, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 985 miles [1,585.2 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,875 miles [11,064.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,587 miles [12,210.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,463 miles [8,791.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Louisiana: louisiana.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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Basel, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Basel) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Basel. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.7371, Longitude: -91.3454 In this case, the coordinates for Basel have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Basel 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 316.189 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 311.828 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.605 degrees. |