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Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Skyles, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Skyles and the surrounding area.
- 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 Skyles:
- 38.504549, -80.677039
- 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 Skyles
- 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 Webster County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Webster County
- Since Skyles is near Nicholas County and also Braxton County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- Open the eBird sighting report for Nicholas County
- Open the eBird sighting report for Braxton 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 Skyles
Curious and Interesting Names Near Skyles ...
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.
- Birch River
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
- Boggs
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
- Boggs is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boggs
- Delphi
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
- Delphi is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delphi
- Halo
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
- Halo is located in Webster County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Halo
- Little Birch
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)
- Little Birch is located in Braxton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Birch
- Middle Run
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
- Middle Run is located in Braxton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Middle Run
- Opal
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
- Opal is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Opal
- Tesla
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
- Tesla is located in Braxton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tesla
- Thrash ‑ Historic
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the north)
- Thrash is located in Braxton County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thrash
- Waggy ‑ Historic
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
- Waggy is located in Nicholas County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Waggy
How Far From Skyles 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 Skyles to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<2> community of Skyles once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Skyles and extending to:
- Webster Springs, which is the Seat of Webster County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<3> to the east. If you could walk a straight line from Skyles to Webster Springs, with an average speed<4> 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 52 miles [83.7 km] to the west (W). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 198 miles [318.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,067 miles [9,763.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,779 miles [10,909.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,655 miles [7,491.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <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 Skyles, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <3> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Skyles) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |
| <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 Skyles 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 Skyles. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 38.5045, Longitude: -80.6770 In this case, the coordinates for Skyles have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <6> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.079 degrees. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 305.872 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 306.402 degrees. |
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