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We went with our local birding group, led by Ted Chandik ("Fly By Dawn"), to bird Lassen Volcanic National Park, Burney Falls, and Honey Lake (near Susanville, CA). The first two nights we stayed in Redding, CA.

Redding has a wonderful city park at Turtle Bay that spans both sides of the Sacramento River, so they need a walking bridge. The bridge was designed by the famous architect, Santiago Calatrava, who has designed 17 bridges for places all over the world, e.g., France, Spain, England, Ireland, Belgium, Argentina. The bridge in Redding is his only bridge in the USA.

The Sundial Bridge at Redding has become a regional icon, much like what the Golden Gate Bridge has done for San Francisco.

The bridge is 700 feet long, 23 feet wide, and there are 14 cables supporting the bridge. It was completed in 2003, and cost $23.5 million.

The bridge not only looks like a sundial, it IS a sundial that casts a shadow on a long tiled mound that is calibrated. We were there at 2 PM, and the shadow was very close to the 2 PM marker.

On a regular sundial, the piece that sticks up and makes the shadow is called the "gnomon". There are only 4 days a year when the sun time and clock time agree: April 15, June 15, September 1, and December 24. We were there on June 12, hence the closeness to clock time that we observed.

There is an interesting piece of art under the bridge, shown here at the very bottom.

CONCLUSION: If you are ever in Redding California, do not miss Turtle Bay and its beautiful bridge, both at night and in the day.

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