Original subtitles

(soothing music)

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Where soaring granite peaks,

waterfalls, among the world's tallest,

sweeping meadows, and gigantic sequoias

conspire to create a beauty beyond belief.

Join us as we head skyward with rock jocks.

Glide through the valley.

- [Paraglider] Yeah baby!

- [Narrator] Seek out the places where the deer,

the bear, and the bear patrol roam.

- [Man] No bear on scene, and damage to three vehicles.

- [Narrator] And recharge at the queen of lodges.

In a legendary landscape,

we'll explore

all the wonders of Yosemite.

America's treasure.

(dramatic music)

(gentle music)

The first visitors might have wondered

if they were dreaming.

Set amid Northern California's Sierra Nevada,

Yosemite National Park reigns supreme.

On the horizon, Mount Hoffman is the geographic center

of the 750,000 acre area.

Yet one valley, hailed as the incomparable valley,

is so celebrated that many think it is Yosemite.

- Although Yosemite Valley is only 5% of the park,

it's where 95% of the visitors go.

Yosemite Valley itself is only

one mile wide, and seven miles long.

However, Yosemite Valley contains

the icons that people come to see.

- [Narrator] Icons like El Capitan,

one of the largest monoliths of granite on earth.

Among the world's greatest concentration of granite domes,

Half Dome dominates.

Although it's actually 3/4 of a dome,

the celebrated shape can be seen from all sides.

And there's no other half.

The face of the mountain eroded away, bit by bit.

While Yellowstone is America's first national park,

Yosemite set the stage.

Profound beauty, and a botanical wonder,

the giant sequoias were cause for President Lincoln,

in the midst of the Civil War,

to set aside land to be held

for public use, resort, and recreation.

- This was known as the Yosemite Grant,

and was the first time

in not only the history of this country,

but the history of the world,

that a piece of land was set aside

strictly for preservation.

(intense music)

Powerful geological forces raised the Sierra Nevada

to its present height.

During the Ice Age some three million years ago,

glaciers carved the U-shaped canyons.

- If we look straight across and imagine that there was ice

from the rim of the falls all the way

almost over to where we are,

That's a lotta ice.

And a lot of weight, and a lot of power.

As this ice was slowing moving through the valley,

it just plucked rocks away.

- [Narrator] Glacier handiwork created Yosemite Falls.

At over 2,400 feet, it's the tallest

waterfall in North America.

(dramatic music)

Across the valley, Bridal Veil Falls

is named for its lacy mist.

Powered by snow melt and gravity,

peak season for waterfall watching is spring.

(water roaring)

With over 800 miles of trails, Yosemite is a Mecca

for daytrippers and backpackers.

According to Ann Marie Brown, guide and author of

"250 Great Hikes in California's National Parks,"

the best way to get away from the crowds is to head up.

- It's just a matter of truth

that the vast majority of people will stop going

as the elevation gets higher and higher.

- [Narrator] Amid the many scenic climbs out of the valley,

the Mist Trail is a must do.

(pleasant music)

It's here, Vernal Falls cascades over giant steps

carved as glacial ice moved down the valley.

The trail, a manmade work of art,

runs right along the edge of the spray.

The falls drop 317 feet.

At its base, sunshine meets mist,

light breaks into the vivid colors of the rainbow,

all in a place that looks like Eden.

(pleasant music)

Nevada Falls is yet another perfect union

of sky, rock, and water.

The Mist Trail winds relentlessly up.

For the super fit, with muscles aching for more,

it's onward to Half Dome.

In 1870, geologist Josiah D. Whitney declared that Half Dome

would probably never been trodden by human foot,

but hidden from his view, on the eastern side,

a rocky buttress provides access.

The shortest route, 17 miles round trip

with an elevation gain of 4,800 feet.

- At the bare minimum, you're gonna be on your feet

for seven to eight hours,

and then whatever time you spend on top of the Dome as well.

But the rewards are huge.

I mean, it's the outdoor equivalent of running a marathon.

- [Narrator] A steep set of switchbacks

acts like a grand StairMaster.

On the shoulder of Half Dome, the climb borders on vertical.

Things get more and more intense.

- [Hiker] All right, here we go.

- [Narrator] Until a pair of steel cables

becomes a lifeline.

- He's like, "I made it this far, I gotta do it."

It's a little hairy.

Gives ya some feeling of having

achieved something noteworthy.

- [Hiker] We're almost there!

- [Narrator] It's a scramble to the lofty crest.

- Difficult, but exhilarating and challenging and great fun,

once you get to the top.

- I'd add terrifying.

- [Narrator] Those who make it to the summit

say it's like the top of the world.

- It's fantastic, isn't it?

- It really is, it's just,

it's sort of almost unreal, actually.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] There's no place like Yosemite.

This legendary landscape is home

to over 300 species of wildlife.

The Western rattler, the park's only poisonous snake,

ranges in color from yellowish to a smoky shade of black.

Visitors rarely see or hear a mountain lion.

(mountain lion growls)

This biggest cat in North America

is out and about, feasting on mule deer.

Though encounters are unlikely,

the park recommends not to hike alone.

Yosemite's most popular mammal is its largest.

Called black bears, most are shades of brown.

Here, they don't always hibernate.

- It depends on the elevation.

At lower elevations, 2,000 feet, a bear may not hibernate,

whereas at higher elevations it definitely will,

but it all comes down to

whether it has a food source available to it.

- [Narrator] Yosemite Valley, the prime tourist destination,

is also prime bear habitat.

With a nose for food, and the steady flow

of humans carrying it, bears get into trouble.

By 1998, things were out of control.

1,400 car break-ins, and $650,000 of property damage

caught the attention of Congress.

Increased funding allowed the park to focus on the problem.

(intense music)

- Probably another bear break-in.

- [Narrator] At five o'clock in the morning,

the bear management team is in the thick of it.

- [Man] No bear on scene, and damage to three vehicles.

- We have more than one bear that breaks into cars,

but we have one bear who's really the main culprit.

Oh my goodness, look at this car.

- They just pulled in here. - Yeah?

- Probably within the last hour and a half.

The bears jumped up on the hood,

walked over the top of it,

then came down and pulled the window out.

Good, good, good prints.

- That's not a small bear either, is it? Look at that.

- [Narrator] Bears will break in if they see anything

even associated with food.

- There's a whole cooler back there.

- [Narrator] If they continue to frequent developed areas,

they're monitored by collars and tags.

- So I'm just running through the frequencies

of bears that this could be.

If it's a radio collar bear,

we have a list of frequencies.

I'm trying to see who's closest.

- [Narrator] One bear has been spending a lot of time

in the more populated parts of the valley.

- [Sherri] And that makes us feel uncomfortable,

because she may get too close to people then.

We're gonna try to get a collar on her.

- [Narrator] A bear trap is made more comfortable,

then baited with a bag of food at the back.

- So it goes in, and it grabs the bag of food,

which pulls it down,

and when it's pulled down,

it just closes behind it.

And we do have one bear who has figured this out,

and he grabs the bag, and sticks his foot out,

and catches the door.

So we have one bigger trap

that we always have to catch him in,

because he has figured this whole system out.

- [Man] Get outta here bear, get outta here!

- One of the tools that we use to make the situation

more negative for the bear, the conditioning more negative,

is we use paintball guns.

We had some clear paintballs specially designed for us,

and they're just full of kind of a greasy oil in there.

Get outta here bear, come on, move,

get outta here, come on, move!

You always wanna yell at the same time,

so that they know a human is doing it.

To reinforce that humans are scary.

- [Narrator] Bears are so intelligent, wildlife experts say

they only stay one step ahead of them.

- We'd develop a bear-proof food locker, or a dumpster.

Eventually, they figure it out

and we have to come up with another design.

- [Narrator] In the back country,

bear resistant canisters are a must.

Hanging food from trees no longer works.

The bears caught on to the trick.

- [Ranger] Hello, folks.

- Hi. - Hello.

- We're just out doing our bear rounds,

making sure that all those little brownie bites

and Oreo cookies get put away when you're done.

- Yes. - Okay.

- Oh you are too far from an open car.

Because if it's open

and you're not there, you're too far away.

- [Narrator] To date, the park's tough love policy

has paid off.

Conflicts have been reduced by 80%.

Beyond bears, Yosemite has a rich human history.

Native Americans called the valley Ahwahnee,

meaning place of gaping.

Tucked away in the corner,

amid tall trees and granite walls,

the namesake Ahwahnee Hotel

is the queen of national park lodges.

Built on several levels, it's protected and private.

- The granite ledges and walls of the valley

actually seem to just keep extending out

into the grounds of the Ahwahnee,

and incorporate the building.

It's brilliant, it's artistic, and it's natural,

and it feels right to be here in the valley.

- [Narrator] Celebrated park architect

Gilbert Stanley Underwood left nothing to chance.

Every detail blends into the beauty of the landscape.

The four diamond hotel first opened its doors in 1927.

The centerpiece is the Great Lounge.

With a 24 foot beam ceiling.

German Gothic wrought iron chandeliers

cast a warm glow over an enormous space.

Flanked by two stone fireplaces,

there's a lot of detail to absorb.

Despite the massive scale, it's warm and inviting,

like being a guest in a country manor.

Views of Yosemite Falls, Half Dome,

and Glacier Point bring the outside in.

The JKF Suite is named for the president

who stayed here in 1962.

It has a deck with a private view.

Fine dining in the 34 foot trestle beam dining room

is a quintessential Yosemite experience.

(glasses clink)

- Coming to a place that's going to

cater to the special needs of guests,

and to make your visit very memorable.

(people clapping)

- [Narrator] For many, there's a special connection

to the Ahwahnee, and to Yosemite.

While you're enjoying the great outdoors,

take a moment to remember those who came before.

The individual eternally linked with Yosemite

is naturalist John Muir, who wrote,

"No temple made with hands can compare with Yosemite."

During industrial times, he excited people

that a place like this even existed.

- The United States is a new country.

It didn't have the kind of history that Europeans had.

Had American history, but not an ancient recorded history,

or a history that had large buildings,

cathedrals, et cetera.

And what became the temples

for the United States were these wild areas.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] In 1890, Yosemite was set aside

as America's third national park.

Two years later, Muir co-founded the famed Sierra Club,

dedicated to conservation.

He described the Sierra as the Range of Light.

Another visionary, America's premier

landscape photographer Ansel Adams,

opened the public's eye in a different way.

- Ansel came to Yosemite for the first time in 1914,

and fell in love with it,

and came back every year of his life.

- [Narrator] Hiking the back country,

he became familiar with the ever changing patterns of light.

- He definitely caught the moment.

The moment, the one second where the light had changed.

The one moment where the clouds were covering the valley,

that's what Ansel did that no one else could do.

- [Narrator] Every day around the park,

amateurs and professionals are out to get the perfect shot.

- [Guide] What I'm gonna do right now is I'm gonna show you

a photograph that Ansel took in this meadow.

- [Narrator] The Ansel Adams Gallery, a park institution,

leads photo walks that follow in Ansel's footsteps.

- We're gonna talk about how to create

light and motion and depth of field.

- [Narrator] Ansel Adams loved Yosemite.

Yet there was one special spot

amid the rarefied air of the high country.

- He took Sierra Club trips in there when he was

sort of leading some of the trips for them,

and they jokingly said, "Ansel, you love this place so much,

"we should call that mountain up there Mount Ansel Adams."

In fact, that became Mount Ansel Adams after he died.

Then we put his ashes there in 1986 on his mountain.

(birds chirping)

- [Narrator] Although Ansel Adams never met John Muir,

both men left a legacy of conservation

that continues to be an inspiration.

(dramatic music)

Yosemite is the centerpiece of the Sierra Nevada,

the longest continuous mountain range

in the continental United States.

Much of the park lies above 7,500 feet.

Called high country, it has a rugged splendor.

From Olmsted Point, the back half

of Half Dome looms in the distance.

Giant boulders left behind by receding glaciers

look like the work of extraterrestrials.

Amid hundreds of glacial carved lakes,

Tenaya is the largest.

A lone kayaker cruises by.

Framed by granite walls and sandy beaches,

the water is icy cold.

The Tuolumne River meanders through

the largest subalpine meadow in the High Sierra.

- We're at the gateway to the High Sierras.

We are at 8,600 feet above sea level,

and there's trails that go up

to elevations over 10, 12,000 feet.

- [Narrator] Surrounded by high peaks,

it's lush, cool, inviting.

A meeting place for all.

- And then there is the crest, which the Tioga Pass road

reaches almost 10,000 feet above sea level,

and from there you can hike up to high elevation peaks

that have this magnificent scenery.

(gentle guitar music)

- [Narrator] Tioga Pass is the highest point

in the Sierra Nevada that can be crossed by road.

The Tioga Pass Resort has been a stopoff since 1916.

- I'll have rocky road, thanks.

Thank you.

- [Narrator] On the park's border,

this local hangout is an institution.

With rustic guest cabins, and a general store,

things here never seem to change,

and that's a good thing.

At the old fashioned diner, the food's good,

and the coffee's hot.

- [Server] All right, homemade pie.

We have blueberry, apple, and apricot.

- [Narrator] It's not the only touch of civilization.

For those willing to go the extra mile, or miles,

the High Sierra camp system,

continuously operating since 1923,

is unique in America's national parks.

- So we have a series of camps, including Tuolumne Meadows,

that would be six.

And you can actually hike to each one of the camps.

They're only five to 10 miles apart from each other,

so very easily accessible on foot,

or by a saddle pack trail.

- [Narrator] A seasonal treat, the camps are only open

from mid-June to mid-September, weather permitting.

Tuolumne Meadows Lodge, the logical spot

to begin a loop trip, has the only

tent cabins reachable by road.

- One of the questions I get asked most often

is what the heck is a tent cabin?

Well, it's basically a raised wooden floor off the ground,

just a couple of feet,

and then you have canvas siding

and a canvas tent on the top.

And you'd be surprised how well it can keep the weather out,

and the warmth in.

Even in really chilly conditions.

- [Narrator] A stay at the high country cabins

is so coveted, reservations are made by lottery.

(gentle guitar music)

Camp May Lake faces Mount Hoffman.

- The thing that's really unique about the high camps

is that each one has its own topography,

own location, very different setting

because of the different elevations.

- [Narrator] In this neck of the woods,

people tend to slow down, and chill out.

(people chattering)

(bell dinging)

(bugle blaring)

- Good evening, May Lakers!

Come on in for a fabulous dinner!

- [Narrator] Home cooked meals fuel a hiker's appetite.

Among the high country camps,

Vogelsang is at the highest altitude.

With 1,400 feet of elevation gain, the air thins.

(thunder rumbling)

Nestled on a mountainside, Vogelsang is a welcoming sight.

(water trickling)

- It's the highest, and it's granite.

You know, it's just granite everywhere,

and you can see where you're gonna hike,

and there's a multitude of peaks to climb.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Above the tree line, Vogelsang Pass

looks over the vast expanse of the high country.

As day turns to night,

the mountains light up with alpenglow.

Guests begin to grasp

what the Yosemite wilderness is all about.

(dramatic music)

Behind the formation of Yosemite Valley's

massive domes and cliffs, eight different

types of granite shape the scenery.

Flanking the valley, El Capitan,

Spanish for The Captain, rises over 3,000 feet.

- It's quite a big rock.

When you first drive into the valley, you know,

it doesn't fit into your windshield.

So, you know that's a big rock.

- [Narrator] While most people are content

to gaze up in awe, others go for immediate contact.

Clean surfaces, high quality rock,

and a gravity defying level of difficulty

make Yosemite one of the world's top climbing destinations.

From El Cap Meadow, people catch the El Cap show.

It's man and woman versus a monolith.

When the route up the nose of El Cap

was first climbed in 1958,

it opened up mega possibilities for the sport.

- Goes up those cracks that diagonal up and right,

into that crescent shaped crack,

and then you can see people there,

and then you do a little pendulum swing

into those cracks that go straight on up.

Those are the stove leg cracks,

and you end up in those upper dihedrals up there.

- [Narrator] To date, over 90 different routes

vary in length, but the average ascent takes four days.

Only the best opt to free climb it,

where partners use ropes and gear strictly for protection.

- Free climbing El Cap is definitely

just as much a mental game as a physical game.

Because there's so much that goes along with it,

and you have to deal with being scared, being tired,

and just all the logistics

of staying on a wall 3,000 feet in the air.

- [Narrator] In the vertical world, you're on your own.

There's no competency test, or park permit.

- Climbing is pretty self-limiting.

You make a mistake up there, and you die.

I would say a good percentage of the parties

don't make it on their first few tries up El Cap.

It's a big deal.

- [Narrator] The goal is to be successful on the descent,

and train for the next time.

- So what we need now is everyone needs a helmet.

What we're gonna do first

is we're gonna actually do a little bouldering.

One size should fit everyone.

- [Narrator] Since 1969, the Yosemite Mountaineering School

and Guide Service has been teaching all levels of rock jocks

the art of self protection.

- Toes up, heels down, straighten your legs.

- [Narrator] It's no surprise they're considered

some of the most skilled big wall athletes in the world.

- So push and pull motion here.

Look at my left hand.

It's never leaving the rope.

- [Narrator] Classes cover basics and more.

- [Guide] You're gonna be moving

over to the right, both hands.

- [Narrator] It's a lot harder than it looks.

- If you let go, certainly she's gonna fall, okay?

So the idea is you're tied in.

- [Guide] Way to go Meg, good job.

- [Narrator] In the 1930s, rope climbing took hold here

with techniques brought over from Europe.

By the 1940s, routes up the bigger walls

were made possible by a Yosemite invention,

hammering steel pitons into the rock.

Using gear, climbers engineered their way up.

The 1960s and '70s were the golden age of climbing,

and Yosemite was the epicenter.

The sport evolved, as athletes sought out ways to excel.

Many who chartered virgin routes

began their day at Camp Four,

now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

(dramatic music)

- As a young guy coming in this place

it had a sense of a carnival going on,

and an athletic event, a revolution of some kind.

Every moment, breathing, walking, climbing moment here

had a sense of adventure to it.

- [Narrator] More than a place to pitch a tent,

Camp Four was a forum for an emerging sport.

Although times have changed, the spirit

and camaraderie of the pioneering days remains.

- So if you guys climb Beggar's Buttress in the morning,

we climb Moratorium in the morning,

we can get like a six man team on Half Dome.

- It's interesting to see to this day

how many people are all around climbing

that they still have the passion

to make that trip from faraway places to fulfill a dream.

So that legacy is still going on.

- I think one of the really unique things about Camp Four

is that it does not matter what language you speak,

and that we all have climbing as our common language.

- [Narrator] In the 1970s, the invention of the modern cam

opened up a whole new realm.

Clean climbing is done without damaging the rock.

Record setter Beth Rodden shows us

what separates the good from the best.

Yosemite's system rates difficulty on a 5.0 to 5.14 scale.

At 5.13, the Phoenix is one tough climb.

- The Phoenix has a lot of finger locks,

which means you stick your fingers in the crack

and then you torque them downwards

to try and cam them in there,

so you can then move your body up,

and it also has a lot of hand jams

where you put your hand in,

and then you pull yourself in there.

- [Narrator] Crack climbing is fairly unique to Yosemite.

Because it's so hard to maintain balance,

many new techniques were developed here.

- There is a whole repertoire of movements that you learn,

and that you might call on depending on the situation,

and sometimes it's just the way you might lean,

lean with your shoulder or what we call a flag move,

where you stick your foot out real far

so you can extend further.

So it has a dance-like gymnastic style movement,

which is quite interesting when you're climbing

and you look at a rock and think,

how will I fit into that?

So it's kind of a never-ending opportunity

to learn about how to move yourself, how to breathe.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] For an aerial tour of Yosemite Valley,

guaranteed to get your adrenal glands going,

on weekends during the summer,

a group of men and women and their flying machines

gather along Glacier Point.

- Clear! - Yah, yah!

- [Narrator] 3,200 feet above the valley floor,

a harness, a hang strap, and a 30 foot wingspan

are all that separate a float, from a fall.

- Pilot hooks in here, with his harness.

Most pilots fly in a prone position,

so they're in this attitude flying the glider.

And to load up a right turn,

you just move over to the right side of the control frame,

and the glider starts to create the right turn.

To make the glider go up,

you simply push the bar away from you.

It noses the glider up, and you start to climb.

To bring the glider down, you just pull in

and you start your descent.

Putting them together in combinations

that creates some aerobatic maneuvers,

make the rollercoaster rides look like child's play.

- [Narrator] Only certified pilots are permitted

to take this flying leap.

- When you plan on flying in Yosemite National Park,

you're at your sharpest game.

And you have everything pumping in your body,

your heart's beating out of your chest

no matter how many times you've done this before.

- Please report hang gliding monitor.

We have five hang glider pilots ready and raring to launch.

Are we clear for launch?

- [Woman] Yes fine, go ahead.

- We have clearance, surf's up.

All right guys, surf's up!

(upbeat music)

- [Pilot] You get up in the sky,

it's just the kind of euphoria that's hard to describe.

You know, we have granite cliffs,

and the waterfalls that we get to soar over,

and we're fortunate enough to see the valley

in a way that nobody else gets to see it.

- [Narrator] Granite cliffs and peaks aren't the only things

supersized in these parts.

These lands were first set aside

to protect a botanical wonder.

The Mariposa Grove has the park's

biggest stand of giant sequoias.

- The giant sequoias are the largest living things on earth,

in terms of total volume.

Some trees are taller, some trees are bigger in diameter.

Some trees live to a longer age,

but the giant sequoia in terms of volume is the largest.

- [Narrator] Weighing over two million pounds on average,

to grasp the size of a sequoia isn't so simple.

Compare it to the Statue of Liberty,

a human six feet tall,

or the Fallen Monarch, a tree famous

for a photograph of the US Cavalry

positioned along its trunk.

The California Tunnel Tree was tunneled

in 1895 for stagecoach tours.

- [Woman] And this is Grace,

do you remember what the tree's name is?

- [Grace] No.

- [Woman] Remember it was the Grizzly Giant?

- [Narrator] The grove's most celebrated tree

is the Grizzly Giant.

- The most recent studies suggest that the Grizzly Giant

is probably close to 1,800 years old.

Give or take a few years.

It's got huge branches, very gnarled.

It's lost its top, so it only rises to about 210 feet.

It's about 96 feet in circumference,

and about 30 feet in diameter.

- I can't see the top.

- It seems like a very big bird

should live in such a big tree, doesn't it?

- [Narrator] One of the fastest growing trees on earth,

sequoias require upwards of 1,000 gallons of water a day,

and plenty of sunshine.

Known to live over 3,200 years,

the secret to longevity is a sap

resistant to fire and decay.

- The telescope tree is phenomenal.

That tree has been gutted by fire,

literally struck by lightning at the top,

eaten up by fire at the bottom.

You can stand in the tree, and see the sky.

The tree is alive, and it's producing cones, it's growing.

(gentle music)

- [Narrator] The Native American word Wawona

was meant to imitate the hoot of an owl,

the guardian spirit of the big trees.

(woman hooting)

In a study of the effects of fire on wildlife,

US geological survey researcher Susan Roberts and her team

tread deep into the woods

in search of the California spotted owl.

To find them, she's mastered their territorial calls.

- And it goes a little bit like this.

(Susan hooting)

And that's more along the tone of a male.

And that's the call that they use

to say this is our territory.

And they'll have contact calls between the two pairs,

and one of them is what's going on behind me,

what we call a contact whistle.

(owl whistling)

- [Narrator] This bird of prey has evolved

into a killing machine, with night vision

far superior to humans,

and hearing much more acute.

- They have what we call asymmetric ear placement,

so they have maybe one ear here, and one ear a little lower,

and the ability to turn their head,

they can't turn it 360 degrees like a lot of people think,

but they can turn it and look behind them.

They can focus in on a sound,

and almost don't even need to see to be able to pinpoint

where that mouse is,

or where the flying squirrel is on the ground.

- [Narrator] Curved talons are designed

to grasp hold of prey.

Layers of filaments and feathers filter out the wind,

making it a silent flyer.

A male and female mate for life.

This sensitive species won't nest

unless conditions are optimal.

The spotted owl isn't listed as endangered,

but its reproductive rate is dwindling.

According to Susan, national parks

are critical to wildlife research.

- We're just trying to find a little pellet.

We have forests the way they were 500, 600 years ago.

To have it to see what it would look like as a visitor,

and to have it for science is just beyond precious.

- [Narrator] The part of the park called Wawona

was once the halfway point

between Yosemite Valley and the foothills.

Today, it's the historical center of the park.

Cross a covered bridge, and step back in time.

A collection of old cabins from various locations

is set in a timeline from the 1870s to the 1920s.

There's an original ranger's patrol cabin, and a jail.

When roads were rugged, a blacksmith's shop

was more of a repair shop for wagons and harnesses.

- You get the award for the first

triangle of the day I think, look at that.

Wow!

- [Narrator] At the Wells Fargo building,

people once bought stagecoach tickets to the park.

(wagon rattling)

The Wawona Hotel, one of California's oldest resort hotels

dates back to the 1870s.

The main building and cottages

have Victorian era detail and charm.

Inside, the parlor is furnished with period pieces.

To harken back to simpler times,

wide verandas are for dining,

and lawn chairs are for relaxing.

The golf course, considered state of the art in 1917

is still a challenge.

While you're perfecting your swing,

keep an eye out for coyotes.

For an unexpected retreat into old world elegance,

outside the park's Wawona entrance,

the Chateau du Sureau, means castle by the elderberries.

This five diamond member

of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux Organization

is a dream destination.

With only 12 rooms, a stay here

is all about privacy and hospitality.

- The great manor houses of Europe in the old days,

when the affluent invited their friends over,

it was all about, they knew

they were gonna be taken care of.

They had this beautiful bedroom,

and there was a staff assigned to them,

and they just were spoiled.

It's a different kind of stay.

(people chattering)

- [Narrator] At Erna's Elderberry House Restaurant,

artful dishes are always evolving.

- I believe food parallels all other art forms,

and when you dive into photography,

or get into the waterfalls out here,

it shows in the plate also.

I think we have a pretty beautiful product.

- [Narrator] The dining room with chandeliers

and impeccable tablescapes is yet another idyllic setting.

- Beauty makes your soul feel good.

It's important that we still remember how it used to be,

and that it does feel good.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] Yosemite's Merced River

originates in the snowfields of the High Sierra,

then descends over 12,000 feet.

Explorers who came upon it after traveling through

bone dry terrain called it "the River of Mercy."

(pleasant music)

A float through the park makes for effortless sightseeing.

(people chattering)

In the spring, outside the park's western boundary,

the Merced becomes mighty with class three and four rapids.

Frigid temperatures and swift currents

make it one exhilarating ride.

(people cheering)

One of the most scenic stretches of wild river in the world,

the Merced mirrors the lush and serene Yosemite Valley.

(birds chirping)

Once upon a time, there was a sister valley

called Hetch Hetchy,

a Native American word for meadow grass.

This treasure now lies under a reservoir eight miles long,

the park's biggest body of water.

- So we're standing here looking at a reservoir,

which you have to remember would never be built today.

I mean, this is something that 100 years ago,

people had a real different notion of national parks.

- [Narrator] Even then, the dam was controversial.

The saga began in 1906.

In the aftermath of a great quake,

San Francisco burned to the ground.

- And so when some of the architects and engineers

from the city of San Francisco came here to Yosemite,

they saw the mouth of the Tuolumne River

in the Hetch Hetchy Valley, and they had the idea

to build a dam.

- [Narrator] The proposed dam set the stage

for John Muir's most bitter battle,

and a national debate.

- He thought that this was a cathedral,

and to build a dam and fill up this water

was basically like taking a cathedral

and filling it with water,

and it was desecration in its highest form.

- [Narrator] In the end, progress

and sympathy for San Francisco won out.

Building the O'Shaughnessy Dam was a feat of logistics.

Hetch Hetchy was an extremely remote area.

A railroad hauled men and materials up mountainous terrain.

They constructed walls 430 feet high,

and 298 feet thick.

Today, the dam supplies electricity and water

to 2.4 million Bay Area users.

- Residents of San Francisco enjoy some of the cleanest,

purest water there is.

- [Narrator] With no pumps,

the system relies entirely on gravity.

John Muir never lived to see any of it,

but people claim they see his face

in the reservoir's north wall.

Hetch Hetchy may be a 21st century marvel.

Deconstruction of the dam,

and restoration of the valley is being studied.

- The O'Shaughnessy Dam was done by humans,

and it can be undone by humans,

and our plan for restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley,

it can take about five years to deconstruct the dam,

and the scientists tell us the Hetch Hetchy Valley

will restore itself on its own.

- [Narrator] For John Muir,

going to the mountains was going home.

To represent the state of California on the US quarter,

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger chose images

of Muir, the condor, and Half Dome.

Amid the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada,

the 211 mile John Muir Trail

winds through park lands to wilderness lands.

It's here Muir co-founded the Sierra Club to, in his words,

"Do something for the wilderness,

"and make the mountains glad."

From Glacier Point, it is a glorious sight.

Yosemite today is a haven for black bears and big trees,

rock jocks, scientists, and visitors, and way beyond.

It's the birthplace of a conservation movement

heard round the world.

(dramatic music)