Redding built a 217-foot sundial you can walk across, and it only tells time four hours a day
Most cities put up a statue. Redding hired one of the most famous architects on the planet and ended up with a 217-foot sundial you can walk across, glass floor and all.
It’s called the Sundial Bridge, it spans the Sacramento River, and it’s one of those places that looks fake in photos and somehow even better in person. The catch? The clock only works a few hours a day.
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A $23 million gamble on the Sacramento River
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava designed the bridge, and it opened on July 4, 2004, as his first freestanding bridge in the United States. It cost around $23 million, most of it paid for by the Redding-based McConnell Foundation.
Not everyone was sold at first. The city had originally budgeted about $3 million for a crossing here, and some locals wanted a folksy covered bridge instead. (Picture that next to what actually got built.)
The white pylon leans back at a 42-degree angle and holds up the entire 700-foot deck with more than 4,300 feet of cable. Nothing touches the water, and that’s the whole point: the design keeps the bridge out of the salmon spawning habitat in the river below.
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How a bridge tells time
That tilted pylon doubles as the gnomon, the part of a sundial that casts the shadow. Its shadow sweeps across a giant dial on the north side of the river, and the tip moves about a foot per minute, fast enough that you can stand there and watch the Earth turn.
Here’s the fine print. According to Turtle Bay, the shadow only marks time for about four hours a day, roughly 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and in winter it falls too far into the arboretum to see at all.
The dial is also set to Pacific Daylight Time, so once the clocks fall back on November 1, it’s technically running an hour fast. Somehow that only makes it more charming.
Go after dark
Our pick? Skip the noon shadow and come at night. The deck is made of translucent glass panels lit from underneath, so the whole walkway glows aquamarine above the dark river.
With sunset creeping earlier every week this time of year, you can catch the glow before dinner instead of staying up for it. The bridge is free and open daily, so there’s no ticket or timed entry to stress about.
Make a day of it
The bridge links the two halves of Turtle Bay Exploration Park, including the McConnell Arboretum and Gardens on the north side. It’s also a hub for the paved Sacramento River Trail, which runs along both banks and eventually connects all the way to Shasta Dam.
The riverside stretch near the bridge is mostly flat, so a sunset walk or an easy bike ride here takes zero planning. For more ideas around town, from lake days to waterfall hikes, here are our favorite things to do in Redding.
Trip tips: grab a rental car to get up here, lock in your hotel before the good rooms are gone, or skip both and book a camper van and turn it into a whole NorCal road trip.
So, are you showing up for the noon shadow or the glowing glass at night? Tell us which one you’d pick!
Rules and fees change, so always confirm current requirements before you go.
