Sunrise atop the Haleakala Crater, Maui

To go or not to go, that was the question. If we wanted to catch the sunrise atop the Haleakala Crater, that meant a wake up call at the ungodly hour of 2am. It was painful to contemplate. But we figured, if everyone else could do it, so could we.

So we joined the line of cars and crawled up to the summit. We arrive around 430am, with just enough cover of darkness for me to shoot off a quick shot of the milky way. I don’t think I’ve seen stars so clearly before, especially when I looked at my camera playback. They just leapt right out!

It was a sizable crowd that patiently lined the ridge, shivering in the chilly dawn air, some wrapped in blankets snitched from the hotel. It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve seen: we were above the clouds, as as the sun rays slowly rose above the horizon, they lighted the thick clouds with brilliant hues of orange, pink and purple.