Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Lyles, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Lyles and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Lyles
- 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 Lyles:
- 31.037412, -92.344576
- 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 Lyles
- 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 Rapides Parish as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Rapides Parish
- Since Lyles is near Evangeline Parish and also Avoyelles Parish, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Evangeline Parish
- eBird sighting report for Avoyelles 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 Lyles ...
We found five communities that share the name Lyles.
There is one other community in Louisiana which is also named Lyles.
Beyond Louisiana, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Louisiana ...
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Indiana
- Pennsylvania
- Tennessee
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Lyles ...
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.
- Bijou
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast) - Clearwater
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clearwater have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clearwater
- Clearwater is located in Evangeline Parish
- Clubhouse Landing
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clubhouse Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clubhouse Landing
- Clubhouse Landing is located in Rapides Parish
- Dove Landing
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dove Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dove Landing
- Dove Landing is located in Rapides Parish
- Echo
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Echo
- Echo is located in Rapides Parish
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Echo <4>
- Harris Ferry
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Harris Ferry have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harris Ferry
- Harris Ferry is located in Rapides Parish
- Lone Pine
(5 miles [8 km] to the south) - Meeker
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest) - Meridian
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Oklahoma
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east) - Poland
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast) - Squealer Point Landing
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Squealer Point Landing have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Squealer Point Landing
- Squealer Point Landing is located in Evangeline Parish
- Witchwood ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
How Far From Lyles 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 Lyles 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<5> community of Lyles once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Lyles and extending to:
- Alexandria, which is the Seat of Rapides Parish, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Lyles to Alexandria, with an average speed<6> 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 6 hours.
- Baton Rouge, which is the State Capital of Louisiana, lies 81 miles [130.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,020 miles [1,641.5 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,901 miles [11,106.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,617 miles [12,258.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,492 miles [8,838.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Rapides Parish: www.rppj.com/
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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Lyles) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Lyles. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.0374, Longitude: -92.3446 In this case, the coordinates for Lyles 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Lyles 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> | 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 Lyles, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Lyles to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.845 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.633 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.967 degrees. |