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 Granite Falls:
44.810031, -95.548648
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.
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 Yellow Medicine County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
We found five communities that share the name Granite Falls.
Within Minnesota, the name Granite Falls is unique.
Beyond Minnesota, we know of another five communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
British Columbia
This Granite Falls lies 1,314 miles [2,114.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Granite Falls that is located in Yellow Medicine County.
Kansas
Marshall County
We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Granite Falls [Marshall County].
North Carolina
Caldwell County
This Granite Falls is located in Caldwell County and lies 967 miles [1,556.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the Granite Falls that is located in Yellow Medicine County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Caldwell County community of Granite Falls.
Washington
Chelan County
This Granite Falls is located in Chelan County and lies 1,189 miles [1,913.5 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Granite Falls that is located in Yellow Medicine County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chelan County community of Granite Falls.
Snohomish County
This Granite Falls is located in Snohomish County and lies 1,270 miles [2,043.9 km] to the west northwest of the Granite Falls that is located in Yellow Medicine County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Snohomish County community of Granite Falls.
Curious and Interesting Names Near Granite Falls ...
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.
Clara City (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clara City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
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 city such as Granite Falls to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Granite Falls and extending to:
Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 120 miles [193.1 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Granite Falls to Saint Paul, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 7 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 5 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,032 miles [1,660.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 41 days and walking would take 59 days.
The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,304 miles [10,145.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,062 miles [11,365.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,977 miles [8,009.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
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- Granite Falls) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Granite Falls. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8100, Longitude: -95.5486
<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 Granite Falls 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.
<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 Granite Falls 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 319.921 degrees.
<8>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.992 degrees.
<9>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.936 degrees.