/* -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
 *
 * 1928.cc:  No.1928 Make a Binary Tree - yukicoder
 */

#include<cstdio>
#include<vector>
#include<queue>
#include<algorithm>
 
using namespace std;

/* constant */

const int MAX_N = 200000;

/* typedef */

typedef vector<int> vi;
typedef priority_queue<int> pqi;

/* global variables */

vi nbrs[MAX_N];
int ps[MAX_N], cis[MAX_N];
pqi qs[MAX_N];

/* subroutines */

/* main */

int main() {
  int n;
  scanf("%d", &n);

  for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) {
    int u, v;
    scanf("%d%d", &u, &v);
    u--, v--;
    nbrs[u].push_back(v);
    nbrs[v].push_back(u);
  }

  ps[0] = -1;
  for (int u = 0; u >= 0;) {
    vi &nbru = nbrs[u];
    int up = ps[u];

    if (cis[u] < nbru.size()) {
      int v = nbru[cis[u]++];
      if (v != up) {
	ps[v] = u;
	u = v;
      }
    }
    else {
      int x0 = 0, x1 = 0;
      if (! qs[u].empty()) x0 = qs[u].top(), qs[u].pop();
      if (! qs[u].empty()) x1 = qs[u].top(), qs[u].pop();
      qs[u].push(1 + x0 + x1);
      //printf("dp[%d] = %d\n", u, qs[u].top());

      if (up >= 0) {
	if (qs[up].size() < qs[u].size()) swap(qs[up], qs[u]);
	while (! qs[u].empty()) qs[up].push(qs[u].top()), qs[u].pop();
      }

      u = up;
    }
  }

  int x = qs[0].top();
  printf("%d\n", x);
  return 0;
}