RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Minnesota >> Pennington County >> River Valley >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in River Valley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to River Valley and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 River Valley:
    • 48.020239, -95.782241
    • 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 River Valley
  • 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 Pennington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pennington County
    • Since River Valley is near Red Lake County and also Marshall County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Red Lake County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marshall 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 River Valley

Communities Also Named River Valley ...

We found three communities that are also named River Valley.

Within Minnesota, the name River Valley is unique.

Beyond Minnesota, we know of three communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Ontario
      • This River Valley lies 907 miles [1,459.7 km]<1> to the east of the River Valley that is located in Pennington County.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Allegheny County
      • This River Valley is located in Allegheny County and lies 939 miles [1,511.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the River Valley that is located in Pennington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Allegheny County community of River Valley.
    • Utah
      • Weber County
      • This River Valley is located in Weber County and lies 923 miles [1,485.4 km]<1> to the west southwest of the River Valley that is located in Pennington County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Weber County community of River Valley.

Curious and Interesting Names Near River Valley ...

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.

  • Challenger Court
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Challenger Court is located in Pennington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Challenger Court
  • Dakota Junction
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Dakota Junction is located in Pennington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dakota Junction
  • Erie
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Erie is located in Pennington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Gully
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Gully is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gully
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 66 people
  • Hazel
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
    • Hazel is located in Pennington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hazel
  • High Landing
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • High Landing is located in Pennington County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for High Landing
  • Thief River Falls
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
  • Trail
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
    • Trail is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Trail
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 46 people

How Far From River Valley 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 community such as River Valley to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in River Valley and extending to:

  • Thief River Falls, which is the Seat of Pennington County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from River Valley to Thief River Falls, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 247 miles [397.5 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 10 days and walking would take 14 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,126 miles [1,812.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 64 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,142 miles [9,884.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,904 miles [11,110.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,839 miles [7,787.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- River Valley) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 River Valley 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 River Valley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.0202, Longitude: -95.7822       In this case, the coordinates for River Valley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.095 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 318.605 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.246 degrees.