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Yosemite National Park, California
The river shall rise she said, and only the strong shall survive
When it is not the middle of July, a tremendous volume of water races through these pools before diving down Upper Yosemite Falls, one of the world's highest waterfalls plunging 2500 feet from the north rim to the canyon floor. Every year despite multi-lingual warnings, tired hikers wade in these picturesque pools, only to slip on the rocks and find themselves plunging 2500 feet from the north rim down to the canyon floor.
After my Half Dome experience, I still went ahead with the Yosemite Falls Trail, proving that while 20 miles and a 4500 foot elevation gain on an "extremely strenuous" trail might be too much, 14 miles and a 3000 foot elevation gain on a "strenuous" trail is just fine. This is a particularly precipitous section near the summit, the trail is on the left, distant cliffs are on the right.
Deep in the High Sierra, surrounded on three sides by sheer, dangerous cliffs and three thousand feet above the nearest electrical outlet, Yosemite Point turned out to be a really nice place to have lunch.
Four pictures unnaturally pushed together of the iconic north rim of Yosemite Valley from the popular summit of Sentinel Dome, almost 4000 pixels long. From the left, Cathedral Rocks, Tunnel View, El Capitain, Yosemite Falls and Yosemite Point), both just barely there and to the left of the two hikers, and all the way down to (El) Half Dome.
