Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Portal, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Portal and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Portal
- 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 Portal:
- 46.337429, -112.118334
- 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 Portal
- 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
- Since Portal is near Lewis and Clark County and also Broadwater County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Lewis and Clark County
- eBird sighting report for Broadwater 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 Portal ...
We found five communities that share the name Portal.
Within Montana, the name Portal is unique.
Beyond Montana, 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 ...
- Arizona
- Georgia
- Nebraska
- North Dakota
- Ontario
Curious and Interesting Names Near Portal ...
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.
- Amazon
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast) - Basin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basin
- Basin is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Basin <4>
- Blazing Place
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blazing Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blazing Place
- Blazing Place is located in Jefferson County
- Boulder
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder
- Boulder is located in Jefferson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,291 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Boulder <4>
- Clancy
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clancy
- Clancy is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Clancy <4>
- Comet ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comet
- Comet is located in Jefferson County
- Comet has also been known as:
- High Ore
- Elkhorn
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
- Elkhorn is located in Jefferson County
- Fuller
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest) - Queen
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
How Far From Portal 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 Portal to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Portal and extending to:
- Boulder, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies just to the South.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the north northeast (NNE). If you could walk a straight line from Portal to Helena, with an average speed<5> 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 five to six hours.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,838 miles [2,958 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of three days, a buggy would take 72 days and walking would take 105 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,663 miles [10,723.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,432 miles [11,960.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,451 miles [8,772.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Portal. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Jefferson County: www.co.jefferson.mt.us/
The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.gov/
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- Portal) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Portal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.3374, Longitude: -112.1183 In this case, the coordinates for Portal have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Portal 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 Portal 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 332.513 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.65 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.36 degrees. |