RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of New York >> Essex County >> Saranac Lake >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Saranac Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Saranac 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 Saranac Lake:
    • 44.329704, -74.131470
    • 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 Saranac 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 Essex County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Essex County
    • Since Saranac Lake is near Franklin County and also Clinton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton 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 Saranac Lake

Communities Also Named Saranac Lake ...

We found one communities that are also named Saranac Lake.

There is one other community in New York that is also named Saranac Lake.

Beyond New York.

  • Communities Located In New York ...
    • Franklin County
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Franklin County community of Saranac Lake.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Saranac 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 Saranac Lake 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 village such as Saranac Lake to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Saranac Lake and extending to:

  • Elizabethtown, which is the Seat of Essex County, lies 27 miles [43.5 km]<2> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Saranac Lake to Elizabethtown, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • Albany, which is the State Capital of New York, lies 116 miles [186.7 km] to the south (S). 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 403 miles [648.6 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving would take most of a day, a buggy would take 16 days and walking would take 23 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,553 miles [8,936.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,274 miles [10,097 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,150 miles [6,678.8 km] and it lies to the east northeast (ENE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Saranac Lake) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Saranac 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 Saranac Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3297, Longitude: -74.1315    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 305.578 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 301.70 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 301.019 degrees.