What a great time for a walk. Many would say hike, but that implies a much more rigorous event than my leisurely strolls that start prior to day break or at the end of the day.  I’m on my way to a place where I can watch the sunrise and many times in the evening, again, I’m gazing at the sun to see it light up the sky. Florida is a natural place to worship the sun; there are no mountains or obstructions to block the view, and the Keys are the pinnacle. Here, O.C.’s Fager’s Island has made it their specialty.
    The sun is the star of the show in my meanderings to the warm places in our southern states when it’s snowing and blowing here.  The first and last hour or so of the day is the time of “sweet light,” when there are no shadows, saturated colors, and there’s no reason to squint. Here’s a photo tip: Don’t, Don’t, Never, Never point your camera at the bright sun!!!  All you will get is bleached out, washed out, over exposed pictures, especially if you’re using a point and shoot camera, if you can under expose the image by a stop or two. Do your pictures before the sun rises or wait til the sun goes down, unless it is behind a cloud or something else.
    Wildlife seems to be more abundant then, too.  It’s much more comfortable to walk then, because where I go it may be pretty hot by afternoon in Florida Keys in January, camping 30 miles deep in the Everglades in February, then on to Padre Island and Big Bend in Texas, southern Arizona in March and sometimes onward to the Mojave Desert, Las Vegas, the north rim of the Grand Canyon and all those “NoWhereLands" of southern Utah in April.  I make Islamorada home when I’m in the Keys.  The beach at the private resorts of the Moorings and the Cheeca Lodge, both near MM 83 on US Rt. 1, are splendid places to watch the sun appear.  Don’t be a pest, though, because both are private, although at the Moorings if you stay directly in front of where the street ends, it’s public access and the Cheeca’s restaurant is open to the public.  Anne’s Beach at MM 74 or any of the bridges are a good place too. Sunsets can be enjoyed best at the Lor E Lei Cabana Bar at MM 82.5 and happy hour is not to be missed with great acoustic music.
    Sunrise in Big Cypress where I camp is a little hard to see, but if you’re in the right place you can see it through or between the Palmetto or other trees or over the saw grass prairies. On one of the last days of February in 2002 I was really lucky.  I knew the space shuttle launch would be about the same time as sunrise. I was ready. I had the camera locked on my car window tripod and waiting and hoping that I could see the shuttle. I was on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Tallahassee near the mouth of Suwannee River. I had no idea if I’d be able to see the launch from so far away. Wow! I could and the vapor trail from the shuttle led right to the rising sun. That photo and more are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/o.c.fotoguy2009.
    Both sunrises and sunsets are special occasions at Big Bend National Park (www.nps.gov/bibe).  My favorite trail to walk there climbs the wall of St. Elena Canyon to hundreds of feet above the Rio Grande River to the perfect place to set my tripod to capture the sunrise with the river leading to the sunrise.  When I’m in Organ Pipes Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona, the soft gorgeous desert light paints sunsets that sometimes light up both the western sky and eastern sky, too.  The cactus forest foreground with the winding road to the campsites at Alamo Canyon with the high mountains in the background and the pink subtle hue reflecting from the sun makes outstanding photos at sunset.
    Several years ago after spending the afternoon at the Palms Inn, one of my favorite watering holes and eateries ($1 PBRs and I fill up on several menu items and my food check is always less $10) on Rt. 62 near Twenty-nine Palms, Ca., I was treated to Kelso Dunes, a mountain sized sand dune, being bathed by the sweet light of dusk in the middle of the Mojave Desert. Nature displays Sedona’s colossal red Cathedral Rocks on Soldier’s Trail. It is right downtown and, of course, they look best in the morning light.
    I’ve visited the Grand Canyon from the north at Toroweep 65 miles of dirt, sandy, and rocky roads south of Colorado City, Utah, five times, where I’ve seen big horn sheep at sunrise, but I’m still waiting for that great sunset.  Capitol Reef National Park, Utah, is in the middle of NoWhereLand north of the immense Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument, where a steep trail winds up to an overlook from the campground and view of the Castle, an immense tree-less rocky mountainess outcropping being showered with sweet light at the end of the day.  The sun is performing all over this gorgeous country! Enjoy.