Sunset at Hurlburt's Hill, Sheffield

I visited Bartholomew's Cobble with my friend Michael Wednesday evening to watch the sun go down. We were hoping for a colorful sunset but were not optimistic because of the cloud cover. We climbed up the wagon road to the 20-acre field at the top of the hill. Along the way we saw many tree swallows who were nesting in the bird boxes and several bobolinks who were nesting in the grasses.

We got up to the two benches and sat down to wait for the show which we were still doubtful would happen. The sky was cloudy and we could only guess where the sun actually was. But we knew it set at 8:32, so we waited. The view from this spot of the Housatonic Valley north, west and east is magnificent. Mount Everett is to the west. You can see the ridge from Bear Mountain to Jug End.

At about 8:15 we thought parts of the sky were growing brighter. Then we were sure they were growing brighter and, suddenly, the sky had gone from neutral gray to amazing color!

We can't even tell where the sun is.

Maybe it's getting a little lighter?

Yep, it's getting better.

Bam! An amazing sunset! 

And enough light left for us to walk back down to the car
while continuing to watch the end of the show.