Haleakala Afternoon & Sunset

Since we had a lot of time before our flight, Jeff and I decided to visit Haleakala one last time, this time to see and photograph the sunset that night.  As we drove up toward the summit, we wondered if we’d get to see a sunset, since we were bogged down in heavy fog and clouds, with some drizzle happening from time to time.  But, then, just before we reached the summit, we burst thru into the sunshine and blue skies!  We stopped at the place where we saw the sunrise just a couple of weeks before, and this time saw clouds just rolling into what is known as the crater.  However, that crater has been worn away by erosion to the extent that if we could see it minus the clouds, it wouldn’t look like a crater at all.

Clouds Creeping Up the Crater

We then drove about a half mile to the absolute top of Haleakala, where we could see Mona Kea and Mona Loa from an observation area.  As you can see, they barely broke thru the cloud cover on this day, even tho both of them are over 13,000 feet in elevation!  And, both of those mountains are on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Mona Kea and Mona Loa from Maui

After a while, the sunset began to happen.  At first, tho, the light just seemed to play over the cloud tops, which we were looking down on!  That is quite a surreal experience, if you stop to think about it.  I have been higher than the clouds, but generally from a plane, and now I was just standing near the edge of Haleakala’s summit.  I processed this image as black and white, just to emphasize the contrast of the play of the light on the clouds.

Early Evening Rays

When the sunset began, the light gave the tops of the clouds a sort of golden glow.  It was also interesting to me that some of the clouds appeared almost wispy, especially those closest to me.  The dark on the bottom of the image is the rocky land upon which I stood.

Golden Light

And, then it began!  The sun just glowed a warm orange as it began to set behind a higher ridge of clouds.  It again seemed a bit surreal as I’m used to the sun setting below the clouds, and not from above them!

End of Day

We stayed until the sun was just about gone.  I sort of hated to leave, as I felt like this sunset truly marked the end of our visit here.  As the sun set behind the cloud ridge, the clouds in front took on that wonderful contrast type of look.  I’m glad the cloud cover was so high on this day as it allowed me to photograph this sunset with the clouds truly at my feet.

Almost Gone

Enjoy!