RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Skagit County >> McMurray >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in McMurray, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McMurray and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 McMurray:
    • 48.316214, -122.235429
    • 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 McMurray
  • 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 Skagit County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Skagit County
    • Since McMurray is near Snohomish County and also Island County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Snohomish County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Island 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 McMurray

Communities Also Named McMurray ...

We found two communities that are also named McMurray.

Within Washington, the name McMurray is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Pennsylvania
      • Washington County
      • This McMurray is located in Washington County and lies 2,126 miles [3,421.5 km]<1> to the east of the McMurray that is located in Skagit County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of McMurray.
    • Texas
      • Taylor County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Texas community of McMurray [Taylor County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near McMurray ...

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.

  • Big Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Big Lake is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Lake
  • Chuckanut Junction
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)
    • Chuckanut Junction is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chuckanut Junction
  • Clear Lake
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Clear Lake is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clear Lake
  • English
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • English is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English
  • English Boom
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • English Boom is located in Island County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for English Boom
  • Fish Town
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Fish Town is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fish Town
  • Florence
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Florence is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Florence
  • Juniper Beach
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Juniper Beach is located in Island County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Juniper Beach
  • Milltown
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Milltown is located in Skagit County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Milltown
  • Norman
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Norman is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norman
  • Smokey Point
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
  • Terrys Corner
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Terrys Corner is located in Island County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Terrys Corner
  • Totem Park
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Totem Park is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Totem Park
  • Warm Beach
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Warm Beach is located in Snohomish County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Warm Beach

How Far From McMurray 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 community such as McMurray to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Mount Vernon, which is the Seat of Skagit County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 93 miles [149.7 km]<1> to the south southwest (SSW). If you could drive a straight line from McMurray to Olympia, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,314 miles [3,724 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 132 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,725 miles [10,822.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,487 miles [12,049.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,616 miles [9,038.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McMurray) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 McMurray 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.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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.
<5>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 McMurray 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 McMurray. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 48.3162, Longitude: -122.2354       In this case, the coordinates for McMurray have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.825 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.409 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.639 degrees.