Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Rio, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Rio and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Rio
- 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 Rio:
- 39.138439, -78.670015
- 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 Rio
- 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 Hampshire County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Hampshire County
- Since Rio is near Hardy County and also Shenandoah County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Hardy County
- eBird sighting report for Shenandoah 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 Rio ...
We found twelve communities that share the name Rio.
Within West Virginia, the name Rio is unique.
Beyond West Virginia, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Florida
- Georgia
- Illinois
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- New York
- North Dakota
- Utah
- Virginia
- Wisconsin
Curious and Interesting Names Near Rio ...
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.
- Bean Settlement
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bean Settlement have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bean Settlement
- Bean Settlement is located in Hardy County
- Bubbling Spring
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Bubbling Spring have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bubbling Spring
- Bubbling Spring is located in Hampshire County
- Frenchburg
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Frenchburg have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frenchburg
- Frenchburg is located in Hampshire County
- Furnace ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast) - Gravel Springs
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gravel Springs have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gravel Springs
- Gravel Springs is located in Frederick County (VA)
- Hooks Mills
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hooks Mills have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hooks Mills
- Hooks Mills is located in Hampshire County
- Hunters Valley
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Hunters Valley have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Valley
- Hunters Valley is located in Frederick County (VA)
- Inkerman
(5 miles [8 km] to the west) - Kirby
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest) - Continue List (6 more) ...
- Needmore
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest) - Pancake
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest) - Rockland
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the south) - Sector
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest) - Shanks
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the north) - Yellow Spring
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yellow Spring
- Yellow Spring is located in Hampshire County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Yellow Spring <5>
- Needmore
How Far From Rio 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 Rio to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Rio and extending to:
- Romney, which is the Seat of Hampshire County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Rio to Romney, with an average speed<6> 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.
- Charleston, which is the State Capital of West Virginia, lies 168 miles [270.4 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 89 miles [143.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 5,956 miles [9,585.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,666 miles [10,727.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,542 miles [7,309.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Rio. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of West Virginia: https://www.wv.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Rio) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Rio. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.1384, Longitude: -78.6700 In this case, the coordinates for Rio 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 Rio 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> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <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 Rio 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 308.847 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 304.564 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 305.317 degrees. |