RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New Mexico >> McKinley County >> Buffalo Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Buffalo Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Buffalo Springs 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 Buffalo Springs:
    • 35.934736, -108.653972
    • 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 Buffalo Springs
  • 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 McKinley County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McKinley County
    • Since Buffalo Springs is near San Juan County and also Apache County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for San Juan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Apache 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 Buffalo Springs

Communities Also Named Buffalo Springs ...

We found ten communities that are also named Buffalo Springs.

Within New Mexico, the name Buffalo Springs is unique.

Beyond New Mexico, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Park County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Buffalo Springs [Park County].
    • North Dakota
      • Bowman County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Bowman County and lies 760 miles [1,223.1 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bowman County community of Buffalo Springs.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Lebanon County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Lebanon County and lies 1,771 miles [2,850.1 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lebanon County community of Buffalo Springs.
    • Tennessee
      • Grainger County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Grainger County and lies 1,396 miles [2,246.6 km]<2> to the east of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Grainger County community of Buffalo Springs.
    • Texas
      • Clay County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Clay County and lies 618 miles [994.6 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clay County community of Buffalo Springs.
      • Comal County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Comal County and lies 739 miles [1,189.3 km] to the east southeast of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Comal County community of Buffalo Springs.
      • Dallam County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Dallam County and lies 330 miles [531.1 km] to the east of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallam County community of Buffalo Springs.
      • Lubbock County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Lubbock County and lies 427 miles [687.2 km] to the east southeast of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lubbock County community of Buffalo Springs.
    • Virginia
      • Mecklenburg County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Mecklenburg County and lies 1,663 miles [2,676.3 km]<2> to the east of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mecklenburg County community of Buffalo Springs.
      • Nelson County
      • This Buffalo Springs is located in Nelson County and lies 1,644 miles [2,645.8 km] to the east northeast of the Buffalo Springs that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nelson County community of Buffalo Springs.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Buffalo Springs ...

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.

  • Coyote Canyon
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Coyote Canyon is located in McKinley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coyote Canyon
  • Crystal
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the northwest)
    • Crystal is located in San Juan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crystal
  • Mexican Springs
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Mexican Springs is located in McKinley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mexican Springs
    • Mexican Springs has also been known as:
    • Nakai Beto
    • Nakai Bito
    • Nakaibeto
    • Nakaibito
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mexican Springs <3>
  • Navajo
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
  • Sheep Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
  • Standing Rock
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Standing Rock is located in McKinley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Standing Rock
  • Twin Lakes
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Twin Lakes is located in McKinley County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
  • Two Grey Hills
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Two Grey Hills is located in San Juan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Grey Hills

How Far From Buffalo Springs 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 Buffalo Springs to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Gallup, which is the Seat of McKinley County, lies 28 miles [45.1 km]<2> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Buffalo Springs to Gallup, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 152 miles [244.6 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,737 miles [2,795.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 68 days and walking would take 99 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,201 miles [11,588.9 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 7,965 miles [12,818.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,895 miles [9,487.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Buffalo Springs 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Buffalo Springs) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Buffalo Springs 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 Buffalo Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.9347, Longitude: -108.6540       In this case, the coordinates for Buffalo Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 328.867 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 327.415 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 320.258 degrees.