Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Alger, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Alger and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Alger
- 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 Alger:
- 44.125576, -84.121108
- 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 Alger
- 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 Arenac County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Arenac County
- Since Alger is near Ogemaw County and also Gladwin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Ogemaw County
- eBird sighting report for Gladwin 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 Alger ...
We found seven communities that share the name Alger.
Within Michigan, the name Alger is unique.
Beyond Michigan, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Georgia
- Iowa
- Kentucky
- Minnesota
- Montana
- Ohio
- Washington
Curious and Interesting Names Near Alger ...
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.
- Edwards
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest) - Elbow Lake
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elbow Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow Lake
- Elbow Lake is located in Ogemaw County
- Greenwood
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest) - Hard Luck
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Hockaday
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west) - Knights Mill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Knights Mill have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knights Mill
- Knights Mill is located in Arenac County
- Maple Ridge
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Ridge
- Maple Ridge is located in Arenac County
- Pine River
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine River have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine River
- Pine River is located in Arenac County
- Skidway Lake
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Skidway Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skidway Lake
- Skidway Lake is located in Ogemaw County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Skidway Lake <4>
- Sugar Rapids
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Rapids
- Sugar Rapids is located in Gladwin County
- Twining
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the east) - Worth
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the southeast)
How Far From Alger 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 Alger to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Alger and extending to:
- Standish, which is the Seat of Arenac County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Alger to Standish, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 98 miles [157.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 513 miles [825.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 30 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,947 miles [9,570.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,685 miles [10,758.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,569 miles [7,353.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Alger. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Michigan: https://www.michigan.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Alger 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. |
| <2> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Alger) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Alger. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1256, Longitude: -84.1211 In this case, the coordinates for Alger have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Alger 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 312.045 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 308.945 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.078 degrees. |