RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Dakota >> Richland County >> Great Bend >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Great Bend, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Great Bend 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 Great Bend:
    • 46.154864, -96.803656
    • 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 Great Bend
  • 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 Richland County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Richland County
    • Since Great Bend is near Wilkin County and also Traverse County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wilkin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Traverse 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 Great Bend

Communities Also Named Great Bend ...

We found four communities that are also named Great Bend.

Within North Dakota, the name Great Bend is unique.

Beyond North Dakota, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Barton County
      • This Great Bend is located in Barton County and lies 547 miles [880.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Great Bend that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Barton County community of Great Bend.
    • New York
      • Jefferson County
      • This Great Bend is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,035 miles [1,665.7 km]<1> to the east of the Great Bend that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Great Bend.
    • Ohio
      • Meigs County
      • This Great Bend is located in Meigs County and lies 907 miles [1,459.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Great Bend that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Meigs County community of Great Bend.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Susquehanna County
      • This Great Bend is located in Susquehanna County and lies 1,080 miles [1,738.1 km]<1> to the east of the Great Bend that is located in Richland County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Susquehanna County community of Great Bend.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Great Bend ...

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.

  • Barney
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
  • Charlesville
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Childs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
  • Christine
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
  • Diamond
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the south)
    • Diamond is located in Roberts County (SD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Diamond
  • Dwight
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
  • Foxhome
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the east)
    • Foxhome is located in Wilkin County (MN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Foxhome
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 112 people
  • Hammer
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Hammer is located in Roberts County (SD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hammer
    • Estimated population in 2014: 241 people
  • Kent
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
  • Ransom City ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Ransom City is located in Sargent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ransom City

How Far From Great Bend 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 Great Bend to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Wahpeton, which is the Seat of Richland County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Great Bend to Wahpeton, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 193 miles [310.6 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,119 miles [1,800.9 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 6,271 miles [10,092.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,032 miles [11,316.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,960 miles [7,982.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Great Bend) 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 Great Bend 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 Great Bend. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.1549, Longitude: -96.8037    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.845 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.218 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.314 degrees.