Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Harney, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Harney and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Harney
- 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 Harney:
- 43.892488, -103.387967
- 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 Harney
- 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 Pennington County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Pennington County
- Since Harney is near Custer County and also Meade County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Custer County
- eBird sighting report for Meade 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 Harney ...
We found seven communities that share the name Harney.
Within South Dakota, the name Harney is unique.
Beyond South Dakota, we know of another seven communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Florida
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Nevada
- Oregon
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Harney ...
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.
- Ajax
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the east) - Clara Belle Camp ‑ Historic
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Clara Belle Camp have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clara Belle Camp
- Clara Belle Camp is located in Pennington County
- Five Points
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Five Points have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
- Five Points is located in Pennington County
- Frenchtown ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frenchtown have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchtown
- Frenchtown is located in Pennington County
- Estimated population in 2014: 276 people
- Hill City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hill City have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hill City
- Hill City is located in Pennington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,074 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hill City <5>
- Kennedyville
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Kennedyville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kennedyville
- Kennedyville is located in Pennington County
- Keystone
(Less than 2 miles to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
- Keystone is located in Pennington County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 352 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Keystone <5>
- Rockerville
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockerville
- Rockerville is located in Pennington County
- Estimated population in 2014: 144 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Rockerville <5>
How Far From Harney 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 Harney to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Harney and extending to:
- Rapid City, which is the Seat of Pennington County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Harney to Rapid City, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 155 miles [249.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). 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 1,401 miles [2,254.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 55 days and walking would take 80 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,589 miles [10,604 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,353 miles [11,833.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,299 miles [8,527.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Harney. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Pennington County: www.co.pennington.sd.us/
The official website for State of South Dakota: sd.gov/
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- Harney) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Harney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.8925, Longitude: -103.3880 In this case, the coordinates for Harney have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <2> | 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 Harney, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 Harney 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <5> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <6> | 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. |
| <7> | 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 Harney to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.636 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.451 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.513 degrees. |