The clocks have sprung forward in California. Daylight saving time is finally here. And the first day of spring — the 2025 vernal equinox — is around the corner on Thursday, March 20.
While the lighter evenings can bring many pleasures here in the Bay Area, one big plus is being able to extend your activities and enjoy the outdoors for much longer — especially if you work during the day. And among all the ways you might hope to spend your extra hours of daylight, you could decide to get out into nature for a late afternoon or early evening hike to watch the sunset.
If you’re looking for late-in-the-day hikes near you in the Bay Area, keep reading for expert advice on what weather conditions make for a spectacular sunset and how to time any after-work adventures to see the most beautiful skies.
You might think that clouds would interfere with a good sunset — but actually, they can make one.
“In general, the best sunsets are not when it’s clear skies,” Jan Null, a meteorologist with Golden Gate Weather Services and an enthusiastic sunset photographer, told KQED in 2024.
While a cloudless sky can still offer a beautiful view of the setting sun, you’ll still “just have this orange ball dropping into the ocean or behind the hill,” Null said. “If you want a spectacular sunset, you really want some middle and higher clouds.” (The exception to this, he stresses, is “low stratus and fog, which is just terrible.”)
For the most dramatic sunset, you’ll want these clouds and also “a good, unobstructed view to the west,” Null said. “That’s where you get higher clouds; that’s where you get the best colors off the clouds.”
As for what causes those flaming colors at sunset, Null explains that “as the sun gets low on the horizon, it’s going through a deeper part of the atmosphere.” At noon, the sun is right overhead, with “a fairly short distance to the atmosphere,” — but as the sun starts setting, “then it’s a longer distance to the atmosphere, and more and more of the shorter wavelengths of light — the blues, the greens — get filtered out.”
Sunset over the Pacific Ocean at Marshall’s Beach in San Francisco. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
What’s commonly referred to as “golden hour” is the hour before the sun sets — “where the sun angles are low, so you have more golden tones coming through,” Null said. “You don’t have this bright, harsh overhead light,” he said, “so that last hour, the sun is less intense, and it gives this golden kind of glow.”
As for when the sun will actually dip below the horizon, Null said that there are multiple ways to obtain an accurate sunset time — but the easiest is that “you can actually just ask your smartphone or Alexa or whoever: ‘What time is this sunset today?’” That’s because all of those apps and sites get their information from the same place, Null said: The United States Naval Observatory (USNO). The government’s site itself is not the most user-friendly application — you’ll have to manually account for any daylight saving time, for one thing — but it will give you a look-ahead table of sunset times for the coming days and weeks, which might be helpful for planning future evening hikes.
The Bay Bridge at sunset as seen from Grizzly Peak Boulevard in the Oakland Hills. (Dan Brekke/KQED)
You’ll want to time the start of your evening hike to ensure you’re not racing to your sunset viewpoint. “The sun sets actually fairly rapidly once it gets down over the horizon,” Null said. “So, if I’m going to go shoot a sunset, I want to get to [my viewpoint] about 15 minutes before the sunset time.”
Want to take photos? Choose a focus
For those hoping to not only see the sunset but also photograph it, Null has advice: Your shots will be “much more dramatic if you have something in the foreground to give perspective.”
One of Null’s favorite spots for this kind of photography is the Pigeon Point Lighthouse just south of Pescadero, he said.
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Finally … don’t forget the return journey
After sunset, your previously illuminated hike could get pretty dark fast. Make sure you’re not too far from the trailhead or the parking lot — you don’t want to be walking back in pitch darkness once the sun has gone down, especially if you’re solo. For safety, bring a flashlight — plus an extra layer in case it gets much colder with the sun gone.
Also, if you’re parked in a gated area, like a state park, make sure that you don’t get locked in — many parks will shut their gates after sunset.
The sunset on Treasure Island on Dec. 20, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
Some of the best sunset hikes around the Bay Area
Since the sun sets in the west, Bay Area residents are naturally spoiled when it comes to sunset viewing, with the plethora of uninterrupted views west and out to the ocean. (The opposite is true for getting a view of the sunrise here that’s not obstructed by the hills in the east, although Null said that there are still spots around San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay that allow you to look to the east and see the sunrise over the water.)
Below are just a few suggestions for locations around the Bay Area for a late afternoon or early evening hike — or even just a stroll — to enjoy golden hour and sunset, as suggested by KQED staff. If you plan to bring a dog, check in advance if they’re permitted in the area, and be sure of any on-leash rules.
Rik Panganiban, Sara Gaiser, Kevin Cooke, Kari Fox, Jing Jing Saldana, Julia Hughes, Angel Valerio, Robert Marceda, Jessica Kariisa, Erika Kelly and Gabe Meline contributed to this story. This story originally published on March 14, 2024.
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