Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Elk, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elk and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Elk
- 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 Elk:
- 31.617432, -96.934433
- 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 Elk
- 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 McLennan County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for McLennan County
- Since Elk is near Limestone County and also Hill County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Limestone County
- eBird sighting report for Hill 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 Elk ...
We found seventeen communities that share the name Elk.
Within Texas, the name Elk is unique.
Beyond Texas, we know of another seventeen communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Arkansas
- California
- Fresno County
- This Elk is located in Fresno County and lies 1,332 miles [2,143.6 km]<3> to the west northwest of the Elk that is located in McLennan County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fresno County community of Elk.
- Mendocino County
- This Elk is located in Mendocino County and lies 1,587 miles [2,554 km] to the west northwest of the Elk that is located in McLennan County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mendocino County community of Elk.
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Maryland
- Michigan
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Kanawha County
- This Elk is located in Kanawha County and lies 979 miles [1,575.5 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Elk that is located in McLennan County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kanawha County community of Elk.
- Tucker County
- This Elk is located in Tucker County and lies 1,102 miles [1,773.5 km] to the east northeast of the Elk that is located in McLennan County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tucker County community of Elk.
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near Elk ...
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.
- Battle
(5 miles [8 km] to the southeast) - Elm Mott
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elm Mott
- Elm Mott is located in McLennan County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Elm Mott <5>
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Elm Mott
- From Elk to Elm Mott
- Hallsburg
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Lacy - Lakeview
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lacy - Lakeview have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lacy - Lakeview
- Lacy - Lakeview is located in McLennan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 6,803 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lacy - Lakeview <5>
- Lake Creek
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lake Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lake Creek
- Lake Creek is located in McLennan County
- Leroy
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leroy have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
- Leroy is located in McLennan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 346 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Leroy <5>
- Mart
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mart have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mart
- Mart is located in McLennan County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,983 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mart <5>
- Mount Calm
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Mount Calm have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Calm
- Mount Calm is located in Hill County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 340 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Mount Calm <5>
- Prairie Hill
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Hill have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Hill
- Prairie Hill is located in Limestone County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Prairie Hill <5>
- Tours
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tours
- Tours is located in McLennan County
- Google driving directions:
- From your current location to Tours
- From Elk to Tours
How Far From Elk 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 community such as Elk to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Elk and extending to:
- Waco, which is the Seat of McLennan County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<3> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Elk to Waco, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 104 miles [167.4 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 4 days and walking would take 6 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,225 miles [1,971.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 48 days and walking would take 70 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,051 miles [11,347.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,782 miles [12,523.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,659 miles [9,107.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Elk. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for McLennan County: www.co.mclennan.tx.us/
The official website for State of Texas: https://texas.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Elk 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. |
| <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 Elk, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Elk) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Elk. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 31.6174, Longitude: -96.9344 |
| <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 Elk 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 319.879 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 316.267 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 314.844 degrees. |