Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Billings, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Billings and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Billings
- 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 Billings:
- 45.783820, -108.528031
- 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 Billings
- 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 Yellowstone County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Yellowstone County
- Since Billings is near Stillwater County and also Carbon County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Stillwater County
- eBird sighting report for Carbon 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 Billings ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Billings.
Within Montana, the name Billings is unique.
Beyond Montana, we know of another ten communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, eight are located in the United States and three are in Canada.
In addition to the above occurrences of Billings, we know of two communities located outside of the United States and Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- British Columbia
- This Billings lies 505 miles [812.7 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Billings that is located in Yellowstone County.
- Michigan
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Ontario
- This Billings lies 1,260 miles [2,027.8 km]<2> to the east of the Billings that is located in Yellowstone County.
- West Virginia
- Communities Beyond North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Billings ...
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.
- Comanche
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comanche
- Comanche is located in Yellowstone County
- Indian Arrow
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Arrow have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Arrow
- Indian Arrow is located in Yellowstone County
- Molt
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Molt
- Molt is located in Stillwater County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Molt <5>
- Park City
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Park City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park City
- Park City is located in Stillwater County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Park City <5>
- Pryor
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pryor have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pryor
- Pryor is located in Big Horn County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Pryor <5>
- Rockvale ‑ Historic
(24 miles [38.6 km] to the southwest) - Shepherd
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Shepherd have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shepherd
- Shepherd is located in Yellowstone County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Shepherd <5>
- Soda Springs
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Soda Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Soda Springs
- Soda Springs is located in Yellowstone County
How Far From Billings 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 Billings to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Billings and extending to:
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 175 miles [281.6 km]<2> to the west northwest (WNW). If you could drive a straight line from Billings to Helena, with an average speed<6>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,663 miles [2,676.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 65 days and walking would take 95 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,613 miles [10,642.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,382 miles [11,880.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,371 miles [8,643.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for Billings: www.ci.billings.mt.us/
The official website for Yellowstone County: www.co.yellowstone.mt.us/
The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.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 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 Billings 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Billings) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Billings. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.7838, Longitude: -108.5280 |
| <3> | 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 Billings, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Billings 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 329.664 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.303 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.242 degrees. |