Quote:
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Away below them they could see the Road sweeping round the feet of the hills; and to their right a grey river gleamed pale in the thin sunshine. In the distance they glimpsed yet another river in a stony valley half veiled in mist. ~FOTR Flight to the Ford
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This passage comes just before the one Malton quoted.
I think that the mist prevented the sun from gleaming off the river. However, at this point, Aragorn+hobbits seem to be on the top of some hill, so they're looking down on the landscape. That way people usually see pretty far.