RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Kingsbury County >> De Smet >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in De Smet, we use the following websites to find information relevant to De Smet 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 De Smet:
    • 44.386522, -97.550808
    • 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 De Smet
  • 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 Kingsbury County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Kingsbury County
    • Since De Smet is near Clark County and also Hamlin County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clark County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hamlin 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 De Smet

Communities Also Named De Smet ...

We found two communities that are also named De Smet.

Within South Dakota, the name De Smet is unique.

Beyond South Dakota, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Benewah County
      • This De Smet is located in Benewah County and lies 949 miles [1,527.3 km]<1> to the west northwest of the De Smet that is located in Kingsbury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Benewah County community of De Smet.
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • This De Smet is located in Missoula County and lies 816 miles [1,313.2 km]<1> to the west northwest of the De Smet that is located in Kingsbury County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Missoula County community of De Smet.

Curious and Interesting Names Near De Smet ...

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 De Smet 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 city such as De Smet to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 138 miles [222.1 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from De Smet to Pierre, with an average speed<3>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 8 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,120 miles [1,802.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 64 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,389 miles [10,282.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,149 miles [11,505.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,070 miles [8,159.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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- De Smet) 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 De Smet 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 De Smet. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.3865, Longitude: -97.5508    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.355 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.579 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.14 degrees.