It was a bitter-sweet moment to start out on our last day, hiking from Sunrise camp to Tenaya Lake and civilization. I almost felt guilty as my mind started to think about what real-life responsibilities awaited me at the other end of the day's hike.We were lucky enough to have my parents stay at our home for a week and watch our two boys, Brodie and Nik, while we were gone. In the 9 1/2 years since Brodie was born, this was only the second time we had spent a night away from them, and the first time we had ever spent anywhere near this long. The fun of this trip wasn't in having a week of adult time with my wife, away from our kids. We love our kids and plan family vacations because we genuinely enjoy spending time with them. I thought of our boys often on the trip, imagining how much fun they would have climbing the rocks at the beautiful waterfall where we lunched that second day, or how much fun they would have had swimming in the river at Merced Lake camp, but I never spent time missing them, knowing they having a great time with their grandparents. But now, as we entered the last day of our trip I started to miss them, and I looked forward to seeing them again and hugging them again, and hearing all the wonderful stories of their adventures while we were gone.
Our last song for the Sunrise camp workers was composed by Sherrill to the tune of Three Blind Mice. Lisa led us through the backpackers' camp and we started off immediately with a mile or so of climbing. We had less than 6 miles to hike that day, so we were in no particular hurry. Lisa led us on the less popular Sunrise Lakes trail instead of the Cathedral Lake trail. She has a particular fondness for the middle Sunrise lake where we stopped to swim in the lake and relax for a while. 
The wet grass around the lake was literally hopping with tiny yellow-green frogs, no bigger than your thumbnail. We were lucky enough to spot a pine martin loping through the grass. It looked like a very large weasel, larger than a fat tabby cat, with a very long snout.Vicki, our intrepid 11 year old hiker used the opportunity to finish
up the requirements for her Junior Ranger badge. Lisa checked her out on all the requirements and then swore her in on the spot. Lisa carries extra Junior Ranger badges in her pack for just such occasions. Vicki's mom, Jane, got very emotional and shed a few tears during the ceremony.
We started off again, and again Lisa led us off the trail a bit to maybe the most wonderful view in all of Yosemite; A place called Pluton Point. There are no signs to point you there, no marked trail to follow, but for those lucky enough to know the secret this amazing view is only a few hundred yards from the junction of two major trails. From this high point you stand on the edge of a granite wall that drops off deep below you into Tenaya Canyon. Far on the other side of Tenaya Canyon you can make out a faint line etched into the granite that is the Tioga Pass Road. At the bottom of the canyon it drops off into a deep, green hole that in actuality is Yosemite Valley, many miles away. Standing sentinel to Yosemite Valley on your left is Half Dome, completely exposed, but from the opposite side to which you are used to viewing it. 
Straight across Yosemite Valley you can make out a naked finger nail of granite emerging from the trees around it, Sentinel Dome, and below it you can make out the faint ridge at the edge of the cliffs where Glacier Point is. Looking further to your left you find the craggy point of Cloud's Rest.How lucky are we to have Ranger Lisa leading our group? How much poorer would our experience have been without her, and we would have never known what we were missing?
I hate to say that the rest of the trip was anti-climatic, but after Pluton Point it's hard to compare. We still had miles of steep downhill trail ahead of us as we climbed back down to 8,000 feet, but Marion had her technique well under control by then. We finished up at Tenaya Lake, a very shallow lake where the water had Mediterranean colors of greens and blues. It was strange to see people with metal lawn chairs sitting in the lake; How did they ever pack those in? Ah, this was the end of our trip and the parking lot was just 100 yards away.
After receiving our diplomas from Lisa in a touching ceremony lakeside, we waited for the shuttle bus to truck us back to Tuolumne Meadows and our cars. Lisa changed into street clothes and met us at the lodge for a beer, but soon enough it was time for us all to start our drives home.One last piece of business. Marion wanted to buy a shirt for her dad, so we went back into the lodge and who do we see there, but Danger Rave? I had almost forgotten to look for him. He had just come off the trail and was dropping off the envelope with my crown at the lodge office. Tom, the manager at Vogelsang was understandably skeptical about someone stealing the crown for the value of the gold, so Dave was under instructions to verify the missing dental work of anyone claiming the tooth. I opened wide for him, but not wide enough for him to see, so he poked his grubby finger deep into my mouth to get a better look before releasing the crown back to me. So, my tooth had a little vacation from me. I went on the loop trail around the 3 camps, but my tooth only went to Vogelsang and back.
The day after I returned my dentist cleaned the tooth up and managed to re-cement it back into place, none the worse for our separate journeys.
My special thanks to Jim and Sherrill Hanley, Sharon Wilcox, and Graeme, Jane and Vicky Tozer for being such wonderful hiking partners. I can't imagine a better group of people to have spent this trip with. And a very, very special thanks to Ranger Lisa Murphy whose expansive knowledge, quiet caring, sense of humor and obvious enthusiasm made this trip truly unforgettable.
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