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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Mackinac Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mackinac Island and the surrounding area.
- 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 Mackinac Island:
- 45.856124, -84.621712
- 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.
- Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Mackinac Island
- 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 Mackinac County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Mackinac County
- Since Mackinac Island is near Cheboygan County and also Emmet County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Cheboygan County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Emmet 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:
- Open the Waymark.com report for Mackinac Island
Curious and Interesting Names Near Mackinac Island ...
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.
- British Landing
(Less than 2 miles to the northwest)
- British Landing is located in Mackinac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for British Landing
- Carp Lake
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Cecil
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Cecil is located in Emmet County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cecil
- Charles
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
- Charles is located in Mackinac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charles
- Edgewater Beach
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Edgewater Beach is located in Cheboygan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Edgewater Beach
- Evergreen Shores
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
- Evergreen Shores is located in Mackinac County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen Shores
- Freedom
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Freedom is located in Cheboygan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Freedom
- Grand View
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
- Grand View is located in Cheboygan County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand View
How Far From Mackinac Island 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 Mackinac Island to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Mackinac Island and extending to:
- Saint Ignace, which is the Seat of Mackinac County, lies just to the West.
- Lansing, which is the State Capital of Michigan, lies 215 miles [346 km]<2> to the south (S). If you could drive a straight line from Mackinac Island to Lansing, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take nearly four hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 13 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 616 miles [991.4 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving would take just over a day, a buggy would take 24 days and walking would take 35 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,885 miles [9,471 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,629 miles [10,668.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,519 miles [7,272.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mackinac Island) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <3> | 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. |
| <4> | 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 Mackinac Island to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Mackinac Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8561, Longitude: -84.6217 In this case, the coordinates for Mackinac Island have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 312.284 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 309.475 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.709 degrees. |
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