Flashback Friday

I went looking for photos today for a Flashback and the box I picked up happened to be from the year 2000.  I found this shot in here of my children, ages 8, 4 and 11 respectively. I decided to post this one today mainly because of the fires burning to the north of this location.  I'm also posting it because I've not had many harrowing moments in my life, but minutes before this photo was taken, I had one of those moments that scares the living crap out of you.

We camped in Yosemite National Park that summer for a week.  We walked along the trails, took a drive up to Glacier Point and hiked to the top of Sentinel Dome.  We also drove out to the Mariposa Grove and toured the giant Sequoias there plus the living history museum.  

On one of the days, we decided to be extra adventurous and hike to the top of Vernal Fall along the Mist Trail.  I'm sure if my wife had known about this she would have smacked me silly, but she wasn't there, so I figured that the kids needed to experience this hike.  For those of you unaware, the Mist Trail climbs a ridge alongside Vernal Fall, then follows a stair step path in the rocks right up to the brink of the falls.  As you can see from the photo, they are standing on the edge of the precipice.  You can also see both of the older ones have a firm grip on the four year old's hands.

The youngest walked with me and held onto my hand the entire time up the trail as well as up the stair steps.  Just as we crested the last stair step was when he decided to break free of me so he could see the waterfall.  Yeah, my life passed before my eyes as I scrambled to catch him.  I knew there were railings at the top, but I was unaware of the extra mesh on the bottommost part of the railings.  I could just see him slipping and going over.  Fortunately, he stopped before he got there, since I was yelling at him at the time and he listened.  He's smart that way.

The two boys have not been back to Yosemite since.  My daughter and I went back for a day trip on a visit I took up north when she was in college.  It wasn't long enough.  This upcoming summer, I hope to score camping reservations for the park.  It's been far too long since we've been to this jewel of our national parks.  And you've seen the second photo before, but it was taken after the hike was over.  3 mile round trip up 1000 feet and then back down 1000 feet will take a toll on anyone.