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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Nisland, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Nisland 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 Nisland:
- 44.673596, -103.552970
- 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 Nisland
- 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 Butte County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Butte County
- Since Nisland is near Lawrence County and also Meade County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Lawrence County
- Open the 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:
- Open the Waymark.com report for Nisland
Curious and Interesting Names Near Nisland ...
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.
- Bear Butte
(18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
- Bear Butte is located in Meade County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bear Butte
- Centennial City ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Centennial City is located in Lawrence County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centennial City
- Crook City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)
- Crook City is located in Lawrence County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crook City
- Empire
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the east)
- Empire is located in Butte County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Empire
- Fruitdale
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the west)
- Jolly
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
- Jolly is located in Butte County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jolly
- Jolly Dump
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
- Jolly Dump is located in Butte County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jolly Dump
- Spearfish
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
How Far From Nisland 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 town such as Nisland to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<2> beginning in Nisland and extending to:
- Belle Fourche, which is the Seat of Butte County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Nisland to Belle Fourche, with an average speed<3> 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 158 miles [254.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,415 miles [2,277.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 81 days.
- The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,549 miles [10,539.6 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 7,314 miles [11,770.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,265 miles [8,473.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Nisland) 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 Nisland 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 Nisland. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.6736, Longitude: -103.5530 In this case, the coordinates for Nisland have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <5> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.80 degrees. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.726 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.479 degrees. |
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