Located in Platte County, Missouri, Bean Lake is a lake at about 236 m (774 ft) above sea level. It lies in or next to Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site, so park hours, fees and rules apply. It sits roughly 12.5 km (7.8 mi) SE of Atchison.
Bean Lake is an oxbow lake in northwestern Platte County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The lake is intermittently full, depending on precipitation, and is 420 acres in area.From the Wikipedia article “Bean Lake (Missouri)”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
From the National Park Service
The next stop was the railroad section gang at Bean Lake, Missouri. After doing intense, hard labor for two weeks, because of financial struggles for the railroad and the fact that Sandburg didn't have an address at the time, he wasn't paid for his work. He writes: My Irish boss, Fay Connors, hired me at a dollar and twenty-five cents a day and I was to pay him three dollars a week for board and room in his four-room one-story house thirty feet from the railroad tracks. I tamped ties several days from seven till noon, from one till six in the evening. On Sunday I washed my shirt and socks. At the end of two weeks, on a Sunday morning, I hopped a freight for Kansas City and left Boss Connors to collect for my board and room out of my paycheck. The rest of the pay was still owing and was never collected. If Connors did get it he couldn’t have sent it to me, as he didn’t know my address and I wasn’t expecting to have any address for weeks or months.
Text: National Park Service (public domain) — nps.gov.
Sunrise & sunset directions
At Bean Lake the sunrise point swings a long way through the year: about 58° (ENE) at the June solstice and 120° (ESE) in late December. Sunset moves from 302° (WNW) in June to 240° (WSW) in December, and the midday sun climbs to 74° in summer but only 27° in winter.
| Date | Sunrise | Azimuth | Sunset | Azimuth | Noon sun | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox (Mar 20) | 7:24 AM | 90° E | 7:32 PM | 271° W | 50° | 12h 08m |
| June solstice (Jun 21) | 5:54 AM | 58° ENE | 8:51 PM | 302° WNW | 74° | 14h 58m |
| September equinox (Sep 22) | 7:08 AM | 89° E | 7:19 PM | 271° W | 51° | 12h 10m |
| December solstice (Dec 21) | 7:38 AM | 120° ESE | 5:00 PM | 240° WSW | 27° | 9h 23m |
Azimuth is measured clockwise from true north (90° = east, 270° = west). Computed for 2026; values change by less than a degree from year to year.
Golden hour & blue hour by month
Lakes reflect best in calm air — usually the first hour after sunrise, before breezes ripple the surface.
| Month (15th) | Blue hour starts | Sunrise | Golden hour ends | Golden hour starts | Sunset | Blue hour ends | Daylight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 7:10 AM | 7:39 AM | 8:20 AM | 4:40 PM | 5:21 PM | 5:50 PM | 9h 41m |
| February | 6:46 AM | 7:13 AM | 7:51 AM | 5:20 PM | 5:57 PM | 6:25 PM | 10h 44m |
| March | 7:06 AM | 7:32 AM | 8:08 AM | 6:52 PM | 7:27 PM | 7:54 PM | 11h 55m |
| April | 6:16 AM | 6:44 AM | 7:20 AM | 7:22 PM | 7:58 PM | 8:26 PM | 13h 14m |
| May | 5:37 AM | 6:07 AM | 6:45 AM | 7:49 PM | 8:28 PM | 8:58 PM | 14h 21m |
| June | 5:21 AM | 5:53 AM | 6:33 AM | 8:09 PM | 8:50 PM | 9:22 PM | 14h 57m |
| July | 5:34 AM | 6:06 AM | 6:45 AM | 8:08 PM | 8:47 PM | 9:19 PM | 14h 41m |
| August | 6:05 AM | 6:33 AM | 7:10 AM | 7:41 PM | 8:18 PM | 8:46 PM | 13h 44m |
| September | 6:35 AM | 7:02 AM | 7:37 AM | 6:55 PM | 7:30 PM | 7:57 PM | 12h 28m |
| October | 7:04 AM | 7:31 AM | 8:07 AM | 6:06 PM | 6:42 PM | 7:09 PM | 11h 12m |
| November | 6:36 AM | 7:05 AM | 7:45 AM | 4:27 PM | 5:06 PM | 5:35 PM | 10h 01m |
| December | 7:04 AM | 7:34 AM | 8:17 AM | 4:16 PM | 4:58 PM | 5:28 PM | 9h 24m |
Local time (America/Chicago), including daylight saving time. Golden hour runs from about −4° to +6° solar altitude, so the morning golden hour begins during blue hour, before sunrise.
Milky Way & night sky
From Bean Lake, the Milky Way core is visible in a dark sky from March through September. June gives the longest window (about 5.0 hours on a moonless night), and the core peaks around 22° above the southern horizon. Our light-pollution model puts the sky at about Bortle 4 (rural / suburban transition), good enough for detailed Milky Way images.
| Month | Core visible (15th) | Hours | Max altitude | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | Below 10° in darkness | — | -3° | — |
| February | 5:27 AM – 5:37 AM | 0.2 | 12° | SE → SE |
| March | 4:37 AM – 5:57 AM | 1.3 | 18° | SE → SSE |
| April | 2:34 AM – 5:04 AM | 2.5 | 21° | SE → S |
| May | 12:37 AM – 4:07 AM | 3.5 | 22° | SE → S |
| June | 10:51 PM – 3:51 AM | 5.0 | 22° | SE → SSW |
| July | 10:43 PM – 2:23 AM | 3.7 | 22° | S → SW |
| August | 9:58 PM – 12:18 AM | 2.3 | 21° | S → SW |
| September | 9:02 PM – 10:22 PM | 1.3 | 18° | SSW → SW |
| October | 8:12 PM – 8:22 PM | 0.2 | 12° | SW → SW |
| November | Below 10° in darkness | — | 0° | — |
| December | Below 10° in darkness | — | -19° | — |
Window when the galactic core is at least 10° high during astronomical darkness on the 15th of each month. Pick nights within a few days of the new moon. Plan exact nights with the Milky Way planner.
Estimated sky darkness: 4 Bortle 4 — Rural / suburban transition. Light domes are visible in several directions; the Milky Way is clear but lacks detail near the horizon. Modeled zenith brightness ≈ 21.09 mag/arcsec². Aurora needs roughly Kp 7.5+ to show low on the northern horizon here.
Weather & best season
Long-term NASA satellite data for this area show September as the clearest month (about 42% average cloud cover) and February as the cloudiest (61%). July is the warmest month and January the coldest, which matters for gear, snow access and how long batteries last at night.
Average cloud cover (%)
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High °F | 69 | 72 | 83 | 89 | 99 | 107 | 109 | 109 | 104 | 93 | 78 | 71 |
| Low °F | -12 | -9 | -4 | 18 | 31 | 45 | 52 | 49 | 38 | 19 | 9 | -5 |
| Precip. (in) | 0.8 | 1.4 | 2.2 | 3.7 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 1.4 |
Monthly climatology for the surrounding 1° grid cell from NASA POWER (MERRA-2). Mountain sites can be colder and cloudier than the cell average.
Photography tips for this lake
- Include shoreline rocks, reeds or a log as foreground to give the reflection depth.
- Expose for the brighter sky; reflections are typically half a stop to a stop darker.
- After sunset, long exposures smooth wind ripples into glass.
- For mirror reflections, get low and close to the water; the reflection grows with a lower camera.
- A polarizer can remove reflections to show the lakebed — or keep them, depending on rotation.
- Scout in daylight if you plan to shoot at night or before sunrise.
Season: Autumn mornings bring mist and fall color; high-elevation lakes are usually ice-free only from early summer to mid-autumn.
Suggested gear: Tripod, Circular polarizer, Wide-angle lens, Waterproof boots. Work out exposures with the depth of field, ND filter and NPF rule calculators.
Permits, drones & access
National Park Service rules. Under federal law (54 U.S.C. 100905), still photography in National Park Service areas needs a permit only when it (1) takes place where members of the public are not allowed, (2) uses models, sets or props that are not part of the location's natural or cultural resources or administrative facilities, or (3) would cause the park to incur additional administrative costs to monitor the activity. Ordinary visitor and most landscape photography needs no permit. Commercial filming rules are separate and have changed in recent years — confirm current requirements with the park before a paid shoot.
Drones: Launching, landing or operating unmanned aircraft (drones) is prohibited in National Park Service units under a 2014 Superintendent's closure (36 CFR 1.5), except where a park has issued specific written approval. Flying from outside the boundary over park land can also violate park rules and disturb wildlife.
Nearby photo spots
Other locations within 25 km of Bean Lake, closest first.
State Park
State Park
Covered BridgeFAQ
When is the best time to photograph Bean Lake?
What time is golden hour at Bean Lake?
Where does the sun rise and set at Bean Lake?
Can you see the Milky Way from Bean Lake?
Do you need a permit to photograph at Bean Lake?
How far is Bean Lake from Atchison?
Sources
Location data: Wikidata, National Park Service, USGS GNIS / GeoNames, Wikipedia. Sun, moon and Milky Way times are computed by LWPhoto Atlas for 2026. Climate: NASA POWER. Sky darkness is a population-based estimate (Walker's law), not a measurement. See data sources & licenses.