|
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.
- 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:
- 48.995614, -102.549297
- 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 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 Burke County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Burke County
- Since Portal is near Divide County and also Ward County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Divide County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Ward 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 Portal
Communities Also Named Portal ...
We found five communities that are also named Portal.
Within North Dakota, the name Portal is unique.
Beyond North Dakota, we know of five communities that are located 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
- Cochise County
- This Portal is located in Cochise County and lies 1,228 miles [1,976.3 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Portal that is located in Burke County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cochise County community of Portal.
- Georgia
- Bulloch County
- This Portal is located in Bulloch County and lies 1,556 miles [2,504.1 km]<1> to the southeast of the Portal that is located in Burke County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bulloch County community of Portal.
- Montana
- Jefferson County
- This Portal is located in Jefferson County and lies 480 miles [772.5 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Portal that is located in Burke County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Portal.
- Nebraska
- Sarpy County
- This Portal is located in Sarpy County and lies 624 miles [1,004.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Portal that is located in Burke County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sarpy County community of Portal.
- Ontario
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Portal.
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.
- Bowbells
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southeast)
- Columbus
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southwest)
- Kermit
(23 miles [37 km] to the west)
- Kermit is located in Divide County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kermit
- Lignite
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Oxbow
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Rival ‑ Historic
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
- Sevenmile Corner
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Sevenmile Corner is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sevenmile Corner
- Stampede
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Stampede is located in Burke County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Stampede
- Steelman
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Steelman
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 city 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:
- Bowbells, which is the Seat of Burke County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Portal to Bowbells, with an average speed<4> 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.
- Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 172 miles [276.8 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,437 miles [2,312.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 57 days and walking would take 82 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,276 miles [10,100.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,043 miles [11,334.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,018 miles [8,075.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Portal) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 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 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> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | 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.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Portal. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.9956, Longitude: -102.5493 |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.162 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.477 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.045 degrees. |
|
|