Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Big Falls, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Big Falls and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Big Falls
- 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 Big Falls:
- 44.619424, -89.017054
- 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 Big Falls
- 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 Waupaca County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Waupaca County
- Since Big Falls is near Shawano County and also Portage County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Shawano County
- eBird sighting report for Portage 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 Big Falls ...
We found three communities that share the name Big Falls.
Within Wisconsin, the name Big Falls is unique.
Beyond Wisconsin, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these three communities, .
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Minnesota
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- North Carolina
Curious and Interesting Names Near Big Falls ...
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.
- Buckbee
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east) - Granite City ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Granite City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Granite City
- Granite City is located in Waupaca County
- Hunting
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast) - Marble ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Marion
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Marion
- Marion is located in Waupaca County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 1,167 people
- Peru
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the west) - Petersville ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Petersville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Petersville
- Petersville is located in Waupaca County
- Split Rock
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Split Rock
- Split Rock is located in Shawano County
How Far From Big Falls 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 village such as Big Falls to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Big Falls and extending to:
- Waupaca, which is the Seat of Waupaca County, lies 18 miles [29 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Big Falls to Waupaca, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over 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.
- Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 108 miles [173.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 731 miles [1,176.4 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,098 miles [9,813.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,846 miles [11,017.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,741 miles [7,629.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Big Falls. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Waupaca County: www.co.waupaca.wi.us/
The official website for State of Wisconsin: https://www.wisconsin.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- Big Falls) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Big Falls. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.6194, Longitude: -89.0171 In this case, the coordinates for Big Falls have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 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 Big Falls 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> | 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. |
| <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 Big Falls to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 315.335 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 312.743 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 308.458 degrees. |