United States scenic viewpoint
Preston Overlook
You can see 12 km from here, looking south-west.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 12 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 12 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-west
- 97%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 314 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are from July to September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west10 min before the sea-level sunset35%
- Febwest8 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Marwest10 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Aprwest10 min before the sea-level sunset38%
- Maynorth-west14 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Junnorth-west14 min before the sea-level sunset42%
- Julnorth-west14 min before the sea-level sunset51%
- Augwest10 min before the sea-level sunset49%
- Sepwest10 min before the sea-level sunset53%
- Octwest10 min before the sea-level sunset41%
- Novsouth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Decsouth-west8 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Preston Overlook.
Historic scenic overlook in Minnesota, United States
Preston Overlook is a scenic viewpoint in United States, 314 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 12 km away, looking south-west.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 97% of the circle.
The skies are clearest from July to September.
Get there and stay
- Fillmore County Fairgrounds Campgroundscampsite · 0.1 km · 12 within 10 km
- Trailhead Inn and Suitesplace to stay · 0.5 km · 3 within 10 km
- Prestonnearest town · 0.9 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in PrestonBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Rochester International Airport (RST)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 43 km in a straight lineCar hire at LSE airport (La Crosse)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 1other viewpoints within 5 kmPreston Overlook
- 22shelters and huts within 5 km
- 42car parks within 3 km
- 1visitor centres within 5 kmPreston Visitors Center
- 4restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 12campsites within 10 kmFillmore County Fairgrounds Campgrounds, Hidden Valley Campground, Valleyview Campground and 9 more
- 3places to stay within 10 kmTrailhead Inn and Suites, The Jail House Inn Bed & Breakfast, Church Hill School Condominiums
- named peaks within 5 km
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
- marked trails within 3 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Preston Overlook, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Cavernyas2 caves within 20 km
Riveryasthe river nearbyFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Preston Overlook
United States
- 44Viewyas Score
- 12 kmFarthest ridge
- —Peaks in view
- 314 mAltitude
Reads Landing Overlook
United States · 82 km
- 38Viewyas Score
- 29 kmFarthest ridge
- —Peaks in view
- 310 mAltitude
Stillwater Overlook
United States · 163 km
- 48Viewyas Score
- 28 kmFarthest ridge
- —Peaks in view
- 262 mAltitude
Kenney Lake Overlook
United States · 326 km
- 49Viewyas Score
- 36 kmFarthest ridge
- —Peaks in view
- 396 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q7241956) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Cavernyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
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viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are here
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