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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 Giffen, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Giffen 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 Giffen:
- 47.313847, -111.186628
- 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 Giffen
- 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 Cascade County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Cascade County
- Since Giffen is near Chouteau County and also Judith Basin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Chouteau County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Judith Basin 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 Giffen
Curious and Interesting Names Near Giffen ...
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.
- Big Stone Colony
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Big Stone Colony is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Stone Colony
- Box Elder ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Box Elder is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Box Elder
- Donovan Park ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
- Donovan Park is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donovan Park
- Eden
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
- Eden is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
- Evans
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
- Evans is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evans
- Fields
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
- Fields is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fields
- Flood ‑ Historic
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
- Flood is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flood
- Three Forks
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
- Three Forks is located in Cascade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Three Forks
How Far From Giffen 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 Giffen to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in Giffen and extending to:
- Great Falls, which is the Seat of Cascade County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Giffen to Great Falls, with an average speed<2> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 63 miles [101.4 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take about three full days and walking would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,800 miles [2,896.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 71 days and walking would take 103 days.
- The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,583 miles [10,594.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<4>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,352 miles [11,831.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,371 miles [8,643.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Giffen) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <2> | 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. |
| <3> | 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 Giffen 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 Giffen. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.3138, Longitude: -111.1866 In this case, the coordinates for Giffen have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <4> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 331.822 degrees. |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 331.937 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 320.656 degrees. |
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