Half Dome Yosemite National Park

"There's no way 10 minutes before, when she was up there smiling ear to ear, that I thought I only had 10 minutes left with her. It was a tragedy," he said.

The iconic Half Dome in Yosemite National Park has loomed large in the national imagination since American settlers began exploring the park in the middle of the 19th-century.

The moon was just rising over Half Dome, the setting sun reflected off its sheer granite face, as President Barack Obama and his family landed by helicopter in a meadow, the knee-high grass waving wildly while campers cheered.

"There's no way 10 minutes before, when she was up there smiling ear to ear, that I thought I only had 10 minutes left with her. It was a tragedy," he said.

The iconic Half Dome in Yosemite National Park has loomed large in the national imagination since American settlers began exploring the park in the middle of the 19th-century.

The moon was just rising over Half Dome, the setting sun reflected off its sheer granite face, as President Barack Obama and his family landed by helicopter in a meadow, the knee-high grass waving wildly while campers cheered.