Yosemite hiker killed by falling branch was ‘a really careful person,’ her father says

Angela Lin avoided risky sports.

Surfing? Too dangerous. Swimming too far from the beach? Scared of sharks. Rock climbing? No way.

But she loved the outdoors.

Making plans with her boyfriend and two other friends to hike through the giant sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park last weekend, the 29-year-old Google software engineer had nothing really to fear.

But in a freak accident July 19 walking just a few steps ahead of the others on a mostly paved old stagecoach road, Angela was struck and killed by a falling tree limb. Her family believes the heavy branch — the width of a tire rim — likely killed her instantly.

It didn’t matter on that Saturday afternoon in Tuolumne Grove just a mile from the parking lot, when only a faint breeze wafted through the giant sequoias, that Angela wa