Fort Defiance State Park is a very small park that sits on a peninsula of land where the Ohio River joins the Mississippi River in southern Illinois.

There isn't really much here other than a few picnic tables and a small tower that overlooks the confluence. My route home passed right by the entrance, so I stopped in.

My timing was ideal. It was the moment of local sunrise and I was able to watch (and photograph) the sunrise over the rivers.

How does the sun rise over rivers to my west?? A close look at a map, though, shows that the Mississippi has tuned due east at this point, with the Ohio heading southeast into it. With the sun rising now south of east, it made sense that it rose over the rivers, just not intuitive.

I stayed a short time, taking a rest from driving and enjoying the quiet along the river bank.