Looking For Feedback

Hey everyone,
I'm really trying to start getting into HDR and landscape photography a little bit more. I had an absolute blast today hiking and snapping from dawn till dusk.

Below are two variations of the first HDR/picture I started off with today. One is brighter but feels a little bit more unnatural to me. The second one feels a bit better because it's darker and seems to fit the crack of dawn/storm cloud feel that was actually occurring.

I realize this is totally subjective but I just wanted to get some other opinions/thoughts on which one looks/feels better. Thanks in advance!!!

I like the top one, but I'm not on my good monitor to really compare the brightness level. One thing that kinda drives me nuts is the composition, that tree stuff in the upper left hand corner, especially that dead branch out of no where. The processing done is nice as you kept it on the natural side. You could on the first one seperate the sky and ground to darken the sky to get more of that storm rolling in feel.

The second is more ominous.