Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in McKinley, we use the following websites to find information relevant to McKinley and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for McKinley
- 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 McKinley:
- 45.571342, -92.176575
- 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 McKinley
- 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Polk County
- Since McKinley is near Barron County and also Burnett County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Barron County
- eBird sighting report for Burnett 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 McKinley ...
We found nineteen communities that share the name McKinley.
Within Wisconsin, the name McKinley is unique.
Beyond Wisconsin, we know of another nineteen communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these nineteen communities, eighteen are located in the United States and one is in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Alabama
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Manitoba
- We haven't found the location of this community yet.
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- New Mexico
- New York
- Ohio
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Elk County
- This McKinley is located in Elk County and lies 719 miles [1,157.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the McKinley that is located in Polk County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elk County community of McKinley.
- Montgomery County
- This McKinley is located in Montgomery County and lies 940 miles [1,512.8 km] to the east southeast of the McKinley that is located in Polk County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of McKinley.
- Tennessee
- Blount County
- We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of McKinley [Blount County].
- Washington County
- This McKinley is located in Washington County and lies 816 miles [1,313.2 km]<1> to the southeast of the McKinley that is located in Polk County.
- For more information, please visit our profile page for the Washington County community of McKinley.
- Virginia
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Curious and Interesting Names Near McKinley ...
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.
- Clam Falls
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clam Falls
- Clam Falls is located in Polk County
- Comstock
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Fox Creek
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest) - Frederic
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest) - Indian Creek
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Indian Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Indian Creek
- Indian Creek is located in Polk County
- Joel
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south) - Lewis
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest) - Luck
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the west) - Milltown
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west) - Range
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest) - Turtle Lake
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Turtle Lake
- Turtle Lake is located in Barron County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 990 people
How Far From McKinley 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 community such as McKinley to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in McKinley and extending to:
- Balsam Lake, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies 15 miles [24.1 km]<1> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from McKinley to Balsam Lake, 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 four to five hours.
- Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 220 miles [354.1 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 898 miles [1,445.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 35 days and walking would take 51 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,156 miles [9,907.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,911 miles [11,122.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,819 miles [7,755.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for McKinley. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Polk County: www.co.polk.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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- McKinley) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in McKinley. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.5713, Longitude: -92.1766 In this case, the coordinates for McKinley have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <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 McKinley, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | 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 McKinley 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. |
| <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 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 McKinley 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 317.523 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.36 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.882 degrees. |