Sunrise is many people’s favorite time of day for several reasons. Some of them include the quiet, the intense colors, and the symbolic renewal. You can find beautiful sunrises almost anywhere, but there are certain places in this country where sunrise is downright magical.
Catching any or all of the following at the right time can be a revelation, and you can get to all of them by a drive or a very short hike.
Cadillac Mountain– Acadia National Park, Maine
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Cadillac Mountain is the highest point in this national park, and it has ocean views, but those aren’t its main claim to fame. From October 7 to March 6, it’s the first place on the U.S. mainland to receive the rays of dawn. Dress warmly!
Cape Hatteras- Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina
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At dawn, you can watch the sun breaking over the horizon. If you turn the other way, though, you can see the rising sun lighting the beach and the dunes, coloring driftwood and shells washed up overnight while shadows still fill ripples in the sands.
Enchanted Rock– Enchanted Rock State Natural Area, Texas
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The rock in most of the Hill Country in Central Texas is limestone, but Enchanted Rock and its surroundings are exceptions because they’re granite formed from ancient volcanic activity. Enchanted Rock itself is a granite dome that has a distinctly pink glow at sunrise.
Tettegouche State Park– North Shore, Minnesota
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Minnesota’s North Shore is actually a north-south stretch along Lake Superior from Duluth in Minnesota to Thunder Bay in Canada. Tettegouche State Park is beautiful and has shore access, but really, there are many other places to access the Superior shore and watch the sun rise over a lake that seems more like an ocean.
Wild Goose Island– Glacier National Park, Montana
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St. Mary Lake is on the eastern side of Glacier and opens up spectacular views of rugged peaks that glow in the low low light of dawn. The Wild Goose Island Overlook has become famous, but if you show up and there are too many people there for your taste, just head to another spot beside the lake; it’ll be just as spectacular.
Colter Bay– Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
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Colter Bay is a developed area along Jackson Lake that has lodging, camping, restaurants, and stores. It also has easy lake access, and if you’re what used to be called a shutterbug before cell-phone cameras took over, you’ll salivate over the colors and reflections here as the sun rises.
Brooks Lake– Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming
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For this one, you’re going to have to leave the paved road, but it’s only 5 miles and an easy drive unless you manage to hit every bump, pothole, and rut. Near Togwotee Pass between Dubois and Moran Junction, Brooks Lake, on calm mornings, amazingly reflects the Brooks Lake Cliffs, an escarpment that is a few miles long and rises over 1000 vertical feet.
West Temple and the Streaked Wall– Zion National Park, Utah
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Living or staying in Springvale means magical sunrises most days of the year. If you really want to see the beauty of this one, though, you’ll have to go into the park and then drive the switchbacks up to the tunnel. Once you pick a pot, stay there; you’ll love it when that perfect shot or view comes along.
South Rim– Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
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Just about any vantage point on the South Rim is great for sunrises. As the sun comes up, the canyon glows an intense red while shadows within the canyon deepen, creating a spectacular contrast.
Red Rock Peaks– Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, Nevada
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The western side of the one-way loop through this location just west of Las Vegas runs close to the huge sandstone peaks that are the area’s centerpieces. Since their dramatic sides face east, they come alive with color during day’s first light.
Badwater Basin– Death Valley National Park, California
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The lowest point in the Northern Hemisphere at 282 feet below sea level, the salty pool here stands in stark contrast with 11,082’ Telescope Peak directly across the salt pan of Death Valley. At dawn, Telescope Peak glows red and pink while the pool, on calm mornings, makes a perfect reflection of it.
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes– Death Valley National Park, California
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Sand dunes are always spectacular at sunrise because of the strong colors and shadows, especially the shadows in the ripples of the dunes. The Mesquite Flat Dunes are not Death Valley’s tallest– those are in remote Eureka Valley– but they’re the most famous and the easiest to get to.
High Sierra– Lone Pine, California
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At sunrise, the granite peaks of the Sierra Nevada take on a pink aura for a fleeting period of time. Near Lone Pine, you can enjoy the classic views of fang-like Lone Pine Peak “pointing” toward Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the Lower 48. For more, keep driving north to Bishop and the pass a short distance north of it along U.S. 395.
Sunrise– Mount Rainier National Park, Washington
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This part of the park is aptly named because the mountain meadows here are beneath the eastern face of the glaciated giant Mt. Rainier. On clear mornings, the scene is dazzling as the early sun lights up the rock, snow, and glaciers on this highest peak of the Pacific Northwest.
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