Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Heaton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Heaton and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Heaton
- 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 Heaton:
- 35.577799, -108.717862
- 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 Heaton
- 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:
- eBird sighting report for McKinley County
- Since Heaton is near Apache County and also San Juan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Apache County
- eBird sighting report for San Juan 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 Heaton ...
We found seven communities that share the name Heaton.
Within New Mexico, the name Heaton is unique.
Beyond New Mexico, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arizona
- Illinois
- Indiana
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Pennsylvania
- Texas
Curious and Interesting Names Near Heaton ...
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.
- Bread Springs
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bread Springs
- Bread Springs is located in McKinley County
- Defiance
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Defiance
- Defiance is located in McKinley County
- Red Rock
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
- Red Rock is located in McKinley County
- Rock Springs
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
- Rock Springs is located in McKinley County
- Sundance
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Twin Buttes
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Buttes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Buttes
- Twin Buttes is located in McKinley County
- Twin Lakes
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Lakes have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Lakes
- Twin Lakes is located in McKinley County
- Weaver ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southwest)
How Far From Heaton 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 Heaton to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Heaton once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Heaton and extending to:
- Gallup, which is the Seat of McKinley County, lies just to the South Southwest.
- Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 155 miles [249.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Heaton to Santa Fe, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 9 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,747 miles [2,811.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 69 days and walking would take 100 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,224 miles [11,625.9 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 7,987 miles [12,853.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,916 miles [9,520.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for McKinley County: www.co.mckinley.nm.us/
The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Heaton) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Heaton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5778, Longitude: -108.7179 In this case, the coordinates for Heaton 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 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 Heaton 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> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Heaton, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 Heaton 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 328.869 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 327.382 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 320.31 degrees. |