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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smith Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smith Lake 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 Smith Lake:
    • 35.522499, -108.133818
    • 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 Smith Lake
  • 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 Smith Lake is near San Juan County and also Cibola 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 Cibola 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 Smith Lake

Communities Also Named Smith Lake ...

We found one communities that are also named Smith Lake.

Within New Mexico, the name Smith Lake is unique.

Beyond New Mexico, there is another community also named Smith Lake in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Minnesota
      • Wright County
      • This Smith Lake is located in Wright County and lies 987 miles [1,588.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Smith Lake that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Wright County community of Smith Lake.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smith Lake ...

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.

How Far From Smith Lake to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Smith Lake to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Gallup, which is the Seat of McKinley County, lies 34 miles [54.7 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Smith Lake to Gallup, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 122 miles [196.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,717 miles [2,763.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 67 days and walking would take 98 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,211 miles [11,605 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,973 miles [12,831.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,898 miles [9,491.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Smith Lake) 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 Smith Lake 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 Smith Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.5225, Longitude: -108.1338    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 328.416 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 326.837 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 320.001 degrees.