Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Sour Lake, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sour Lake and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Sour Lake
- 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 Sour Lake:
- 30.140333, -94.411409
- 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 Sour 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 Hardin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Hardin County
- Since Sour Lake is near Jefferson County and also Liberty County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
- eBird sighting report for Liberty 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 Sour Lake ...
We found one communities that share the name Sour Lake.
There is one other community in Texas which is also named Sour Lake.
Beyond Texas.
- Communities Located In Texas ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Sour 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.
- China
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for China have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for China
- China is located in Jefferson County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,204 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for China <3>
- Grayburg
(Less than 2 miles to the south) - Hogpen Crossing
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hogpen Crossing have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hogpen Crossing
- Hogpen Crossing is located in Liberty County
- Meeker
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast) - Pine Island
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Island have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Island
- Pine Island is located in Jefferson County
- Pine Ridge
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pine Ridge have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
- Pine Ridge is located in Hardin County
- Rattlesnake Bead
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rattlesnake Bead have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rattlesnake Bead
- Rattlesnake Bead is located in Hardin County
- Strain
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west) - Whiskey Ford
(5 miles [8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Whiskey Ford have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Ford
- Whiskey Ford is located in Jefferson County
How Far From Sour Lake to ...
We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Sour Lake to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<4> beginning in Sour Lake and extending to:
- Kountze, which is the Seat of Hardin County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<4> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Sour Lake to Kountze, with an average speed<5> 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 five to six hours.
- Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 199 miles [320.3 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,155 miles [1,858.8 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 66 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,029 miles [11,312.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,749 miles [12,470.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,624 miles [9,051 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Sour Lake. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Sour Lake 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> | 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. |
| <3> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <4> | 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- Sour Lake) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Sour Lake. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 30.1403, Longitude: -94.4114 |
| <5> | 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. |
| <6> | 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 Sour Lake to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.032 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.906 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.923 degrees. |