America's Western National Parks

I think what's special about the Western national parks is the western United States I mean this is a landscape that's been celebrated in history that's been celebrated in movies and books it is the archetypal American landscape when people come here from other countries they think about the American West and what these landscapes actually signify and what they symbolize so it's not by happenstance that the national parks that are most renowned are Yellowstone Yosemite and the Grand Canyon and they're all in the West they're all part of that Western landscape and almost symbolized the rest of the American West so they're not just places their iconography that's associated with Western national parks the national parks of the United States are chapters in the book of America's legacy they're our showcase of some of the world's greatest natural wonders these lands contain the stories of our history and tell us what it means to be an American they remind us why we should pass these stories on to future generations in 1832 Western artist George Catlin envisioned a nation's park to preserve America's wilderness for future ages 40 years later the United States Congress created Yellowstone National Park in 1872 but it wasn't until 1916 that the National Park Service was created an agency appointed with the challenging task of both protecting and promoting these American treasures for the benefit and enjoyment of all people today nearly 400 parks and monuments can be found from the Pacific coast to the eastern seaboard yet it was in the west where the sanctuaries of rugged beauty inspired the larger system and remained the most treasured to this day [Music] the late triassic period through the mists of the prehistoric jungle the first dinosaurs roamed through the area now known as Petrified Forest National Park in that time trees almost 200 feet tall towered over a river system larger than anything on earth today as the trees died they fell into streams and were buried with silt and mud volcanic eruptions filled the streams with ash adding silica to the water the wood soaked up and retained this water where it crystallized into quartz replacing the wood in these fallen trees is a perfect preservation of the original wood patterns in perfect detail they were there when the first ancient peoples made their homes here thousands of years ago they are here today and they will be here when our grandchildren come to visit and their grandchildren after them nearly 10,000 years ago the early peoples in this area had no alphabet and no books but they left petroglyphs literally stone writings carved into the rock this was how they passed their stories through the generations and these stories have survived to this day just like the prehistoric trees they are frozen in time frozen in rock [Music] st. Louis Missouri up until the turn of the 19th century the United States ended here at the Mississippi River during his presidency Thomas Jefferson aspired to a continental United States and so in 1803 he acquired an 800,000 square mile tract called the Louisiana Purchase from France who had just acquired it from Spain this area now makes up almost a third of the current contiguous United States the Purchase allowed the Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to make their historic journey to the Pacific the expedition had previously been prohibited by Spain [Music] in 1935 the land near the starting point of Lewis and Clark's journey was deemed a national memorial and 30 years later a fitting monument was erected the Gateway Arch symbolized a doorway unto the West from here the future of the country's expansion opened up and the growth of the nation increased [Music] Yellowstone National Park is a serene enclave of wilderness nestled in the northern slopes of the Rocky Mountains but under its surface is the caldera and flanks of a supervolcano groundwater is superheated by proximity to the volcano's magma chamber it's volatile heart of molten rock currently slumbering two-thirds of a mile beneath the surface depending on how constricted the return route of the boiling water is the thermal features at the surface take the form of colorful hot pools hissing fumaroles sputtering mud pots or explosive geysers by far the most enigmatic geyser in the park is called Old Faithful to witness an eruption of Old Faithful geyser is to experience the essence of Yellowstone even though there are geysers that erupt higher and for longer periods of time rarely do you find nature's power and beauty displayed with such grace [Music] [Applause] shortly after the Civil War it became apparent that the American wilderness was beginning a slow decline and in 1872 it was decided that the natural wonders to be found in Yellowstone ought to be preserved the land was set aside by the government as a place to be stewarded by the American people the land was not to be developed but to be left alone and with this the first National Park was born [Music] Yellowstone became one of the best places in the world to see multitudes of wildlife in their natural environment but the struggle to survive was far from over pressured by popular opinion and an arcane view of wildlife management the National Park Service succeeded in exterminating the grey wolf from Yellowstone in the 1920s beleaguered by the success centered 'nor ship its propaganda the National Park Service fought the entire second half of the 20th century to restore wolves to their ecological role as the true wildlife managers of the park it wasn't until 1995 that the ecosystem could be complete once again and the grey wolf was returned to its rightful home since then sighting or merely hearing the lonesome howl of wolves has become the most sought-after visitor experience [Music] and I think the fact that you can see both grizzly bears and wolves in Yellowstone is another thing that that makes Yellowstone an unforgettable experience even if you see a wolf pack off in the distance and you know that they're wolves it's unforgettable because there's no other animal that's so symbolic of a wilderness or that which is wild as the wolf except for maybe the grizzly bear and they're both there there's something about them that is it wakes you up awake some primitive or early or part of oneself that the world is an incredible place you know it's something that just grabs hold of you when you're in their presence like the Tetons like the Rocky Mountains like the Sierra Nevada there are things in this world that just reach deep down inside you then grab hold and they just don't let go and wolves and grizzly bears have that power just south of Yellowstone lies Grand Teton National Park the large flat valley is bordered by one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in the world these granite monoliths were designed from some of Earth's hardest and oldest rock and sculpted by the planet's most powerful tectonic forces they rise up without foothills creating a startlingly striking field from almost anywhere in the park if you come in over toketee pass you see the entire mountain range it is jaw-dropping and heart-stopping it's the way I come in every summer and it absolutely takes your breath away if you come in from Jackson you see most of the valley and you get the very very dramatic view of the range because you have the valley straight out in front of you and then you see the 40 miles of the mountain range it's just just spectacular you can't not look at them they draw them on they draw the imagination you always know that they're there there's just presence to them you just have to look up if you're walking along the Snake River you got to look up and look at them every once in a while because the lights changing your Mountain Moran well there's a snow banner blowing off t will not or Grand Tetons just saying look at me you have to look at them you can't deal with that space without dealing with them being what has defined that place I think it's one of the most beautiful mountain ranges on the face of the earth [Music] I think you know so many people think oh it's the Park Service that's their job too you know in their mission to protect the parks but really we all own them we all own the National Park so it's everybody's job to want to be able to protect these areas because they do protect natural and scenic areas and historic areas that are nowhere else in the world and if we don't protect these things then they won't be protected for future generations if there are any other mountains in North America that can rival the Grand Tetons it could only be the craggy peaks of Glacier National Park Glacier is a dramatic ice carved land of towering mountains punctuated by sparkling lakes and broad u-shaped valleys three historic launches hearkened back to a bygone era Glacier Park Lodge Lake McDonald Lodge and many glacier hotel [Music] the hike to iceberg lake is an adventure of discovery the going-to-the-sun road is one of the most spectacular scenic drives in the country grizzly bears mountain goats and bighorn sheep are often spotted among the steep terrain beautiful st. mary lake is one of the parks largest nearly ten miles long and 300 feet deep this valley the mighty mountains that flank it and the lake itself were all sculpted by immense glaciers during the last ice age over the last twelve thousand years these glaciers have slowly melted and disappeared due to warming temperatures in 1850 Glacier National Park had 150 glaciers today there are 26 studies show that within the next few decades they may be gone completely the thought that that we may lose glaciers in Glacier National Park is he is a great tragedy it's not just that the park was named for that particular feature glaciers it's that there may come a time when people may even wonder what's a glacier why would a park be called a glacier and no one has ever had an experience of being in the presence of a glacier I think it's important that if the glaciers do disappear from Glacier National Park that we don't change the name that we hold on to that name because then in the future it might become symbolic of what else could be lost that people are wondering I I heard about glaciers but they disappeared before I was born I don't know anyone I've never met anyone who's ever been in the presence of a glacier I'd be great to see a glacier to feel the coolness of that wind blowing off a glacier it's a sad thought but it could come to pass where we live in a world without glaciers [Music] though Yellowstone Grand Teton and glacier maybe many Americans favorite Western parks for many Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park is their first Western Park experience the land was set aside in part for its high mountain peaks where alpine tundra dominates the landscape fully one-third of the park is above the treeline this is a harsh yet fragile environment where the growing season is short and only the hardiest plants survive in contrast the parks lower slopes and valleys are lush and forested and teeming with wildlife winter is a time of quiet and solitude all the eye beholds seems frozen in time Nature has blessed this part of the country with lavish and rugged beauty when you're in the Rockies you're gonna see elk going into the rut I think of the Bulls bugle II and that's the sound that I miss and it's a sound to me that is an aural fingerprint of the Rocky Mountains I mean this is something that I've never heard any simony have never heard of this year in Nevada the building of elk in the fall and to me that sound identifies the Rocky Mountains as being separate from the Sierra Nevada it is identity it's like a biological fingerprint that says you're in the Rockies so sometimes animals also can tell you what its dynamic about a particular place and also identify that place as being separate from any other place in the United States [Music] we have in the West a history that precedes the founding of the country a history that was before 1776 we have a history here of indigenous people that goes back thousands and thousands of years so this is where America really gets old you're actually tying into a history that precedes the United States tying into a story that's more ancient than America and so it's what's fascinating about being in these environments is that all Americans can have access to a story that is their story but it's not their story something that came before by thousands and thousands of years several millennia ago early hunters roamed the Colorado Plateau region now referred to as Mesa Verde they're known today as the ancestral Puebloans beginning about AD 750 their descendants built surface structures on the Mesa tops by ad 1150 the Pueblo people began to move under the Canyon rims and soon construction of the cliff dwellings was underway the term ruin is misleading expertly constructed these buildings endured ravages of time for centuries and weren't ruined until the late 1800s when American and European vandals collapsed floors and toppled walls in their futile hope of finding treasure Mesa Verde became a national park in 1906 cliff palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America and up to 500 people might have lived here though reminiscent of castles many archaeologists think defense was a secondary concern at their cultural peak it appears these people were more concerned about shelter and farmland and so concentrated their homes where plants couldn't grow in the shadows of great alcoves then for reasons unknown the ancestral Pueblo Innes left the region about AD 1350 the Sun Temple was never completed these great pueblos remain a testament to the rise and fall of a skilled and resourceful people [Music] another time capsule of ancient peoples is found in the southwest at Canyon de Chelly [Music] [Music] mesa verde and canyon de chelly are part of a larger geographic area in the American Southwest called the grand circle it's a collection of parks and monuments that form a concentrated circular area in Arizona Utah Colorado and New Mexico arches national park lies at the heart of southeast Utah's Red Rock country it contains more natural stone arches than any other area in the world all the formations and arches are the remains of an ancient mesa that has eroded away over countless years by wind water ice and gravity this leaves some of mints rocks balanced precariously high above the ground there are countless spires pinnacles and rocks of unique form but perhaps the most distinctive is delicate arch it's rare beauty reflected in its name that has become a symbol of the park and even the American Southwest dead horse point offers one of the most spectacular view points in the United States it overlooks the Colorado River 2,000 feet below and hundreds of square miles of highly colored mountains canyons and gorges [Music] to the south lies nearby Canyonlands National Park [Music] a trip down the Colorado River through Canyonlands is a true wilderness experience not altogether unlike the trip John Wesley Powell took when he first explored the area take a raft trip or a canoe for a thrilling adventure down cataract Canyon [Music] you know and when you think about these parks and their individuality it's kind of like people people are individuals everyone could be put in the same same kind of pressure seems sort of stress but they'll respond to it differently so when you're in a park like the Grand Canyon or Zion or arches or Canyonlands there are different parks with a different response to the same pressures the same erosive forces but the response is different because the rocks are a little bit different so the character is a little bit different so it's also to some degree a revelation of character and we tend not to think of these places as having personality but they do but that personality comes to the fore as a result of these pressures that are put on them as a result of erosion west of Kenyan lands lies Capitol Reef National Park a largely undiscovered treasure of the National Park System it's a land of surprising sometimes incredible contrasts it's unusual name was arrived at a century ago because of the rounded greyish white domes resembling the US Capitol dome here is one among many locations peppered across the Colorado Plateau where rock art left by ancient peoples has stood the test of time a testament through the ages of their stories and culture [Music] Natural Bridges National Monument is a place where are inspiring holes and rock are carved by flowing water hence the name bridges erosion is the eventual bringer of death of every bridge formation oho moe is a fragile old bridge geologically nearing its inevitable collapse at one time Pueblo uns built their homes under these sheer cliffs the harsh desert environment makes it easy to imagine why they might have decided to move elsewhere these dwellings were abandoned about 700 years ago [Music] [Music] in geology there are only three important numbers there's zero one in three now zero in geology if you never see it means it doesn't happen doesn't exist doesn't occur three means it occurs everywhere like the building of mountains the formation of prairies and then there's one and one means it's an oddball one means you aren't really sure how it happened because you only have one and here at Bryce we're the only one on the surface of the earth where you have this unique confluence of weathering and erosion now there's only one Bryce and so Bryce you see it's really unique Bryce Canyon National Park is one of the world's geological masterpieces located in southwestern Utah Bryce Canyon is not actually a canyon at all it's a series of multicolored amphitheaters eroded out of the cliffs over eons of time the intricate handiwork of this erosion is unique on this planet creating brightly colored pinnacles and spires known as hoodoos below the rim one can appreciate the scale of Bryce and absorb the shapes the contrasts of light and color in these tangled canyons it's a land eroded not by wind but by water in the form of rain ice and snow in early morning as the sun's first Ray's touched the amphitheatre the rock takes on a special glow that can be among the most enchanting of all park experiences this is the time when Brice seems to become a supernatural place a window into another world but I I have to say when you're at Bryce Canyon at that amphitheater and you're there at sunrise it is one of the most marvelous things in the world is to see how that how light can do so many wonderful things in such a short period of time it's it's very beautiful and so and it's small geographically but it's large imaginatively it's not a large National Park it's small in terms of acreage but there's so much like its own microcosm of Rock of sandstone and it's just very it's very beautiful the geology of price Canyon is a product of the freezing and thawing of water the technical term is frost wedging so if you have you know snow on top of the formations you imagine this hand with the cracks and it being the rock we've got snow here as the snow melts the water trickles down inside the holes in the rock and then later at night when it freezes that not only expands but it gets harder and it slowly breaks open over hundreds and thousands of years these holes until they're so large they can no longer support the weight of the roof and when that collapses the delicate sticky up bits on either side we call those the hoodoos to even the most untrained eye the wall of windows seems like an especially prominent target for erosion the forces of rain and frost have pierced a number of openings into this thin wall of rock over a period of time these windows will collapse as others appear the entire formation like every formation in the park will eventually disintegrate erosion will create new ones that will take their places this continuing cycle of decay and replacement is comparable with birth and death among living things the night sky is the whole idea of a starry night you know thinking of Vincent van Gogh and the starry night it's very evocative it's very magical it's mystical and I think that when you're in the southwest and many of those parks for people who live in cities and 90% over 90 percent of Americans live in cities we have lost that contact with the primeval with the primordial and we have forgotten what the night sky is for the night sky is to remind us that there is something in this world that's greater than us [Music] here at Bryce Canyon we use astronomy to heighten people's awareness to the importance of natural darkness and we're a really dark place and the reason why darkness is so important is for not only seeing the beauty of the night sky but because it's the fifth variable in determining the quality of habitat you know most people when you learn what makes good habitat you learn they have food water shelter space the the four things but the fifth one is the quality of the natural darkness most of the mammals that we all know and love are nocturnal creatures they're most active during the night so when we have artificial lighting or outdoor lighting that impacts the night we're changing the quality of the habitat and we're beginning to find that v a variable is just as important as the other four [Music] here at Bryce Canyon we have a 7.4 limiting magnitude it means that on any given night when there's not a moon in the sky you can see 7,500 stars by comparison in a very rural community let's let's say hypothetically we have like four farms and they happen to meet at a corner and they decide to incorporate and they put up a couple of streetlights in a place like that you're gonna be able to see maybe 2500 stars but here with 7500 stars gleaming overhead it's an entirely different view of the nighttime sky [Music] [Applause] it is a loss of what is magical about being alive in this world to not have that night sky which we've had for what 99.9% of our existence as a species we've had these incredible night skies with a Milky Way splitting the sky into and so when we visit these parks you can recover this memory that was so human for so many thousands of thousands of years of being blown away by the night sky and by the sky literally filled the Stars [Music] Zion National Park is a place of huge sandstone monoliths and enormous towering walls the the sheer rock walls just are inspiring no matter how you look at it I don't think you can look at Zion without having a feeling of awe because it's so huge and when you stand at the bottom of the canyon unlike the Grand Canyon where you're looking down you stand at the bottom of Zion Canyon and look up and you just get an idea of how small you really are you start to see those magnificent cliffs that are so close to you you're driving past them and you can't take it in all in one vision you have to look at the bottom and then look up you can't see it all at once [Music] this canyon and it's 3,000 foot cliffs have been sculpted by the Virgin River scouring and carving this rock for millennia [Music] Xion inspires peace and reverence early pioneers bestowed names like West Temple the pulpit and angels landing a number of trails of varying difficulty wind up the canyon walls [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the word Zion implies a place of sanctuary and refuge one visit and you'll know why early settlers gave it this name [Music] [Music] in 1869 only four years after fighting in the Civil War John Wesley Powell was the first to explore this little-known stretch of the Colorado River on August third of that year he wrote we have a curious ensemble of wonderful features carved walls royal arches Glen's alcove gulches mounds and monuments from which of these features shall we select a name we decide to call it Glen Canyon [Music] when Canyon was dammed in 1966 and the lake that formed was named Lake Powell after its first Explorer [Music] [Applause] [Music] you know things about Recreation Areas recreation areas sometimes get I wouldn't say it's a bum rap and you people just tend to think of them as places we're going waterskiing you know you hear Lake Mead or Lake Powell and you're out there in the water and Glen Canyon or just swimming around and skis and a little bit and then it has very little to do with the whole idea of wilderness and the thing is though there is an energy there there's a power there of this great geological history that's sifting through that's making its way through the psyche you know you're looking at sandstone and an old history of how sandstone gets the positive how sandstone become sandstone sedimentary rock how how do that's even a process that were part of and we were out there in the water you may not be having necessarily these thoughts but you have to be struck by the beauty of the place that's around you [Music] [Applause] [Music] in 2005 a drought brought the lakes water levels down to historic lows and a hidden treasure emerged from the pages of John Wesley Powell's Journal a towering Rock rift Canyon he named Cathedral in the desert when water levels rose again the cathedral dutifully submerged beneath the waves evidence of ancient Indian cultures can be found on the rock walls Lee's ferry where visitors can take day trips upstream into Glen Canyon marks the end of Glen Canyon and the beginning of the Grand Canyon [Music] [Music] each year millions of people come to visit the most astonishing landscape in the world the Grand Canyon as much as a mile deep 277 miles long and up to 18 miles across it's breathtaking beauty and scope inspire and overwhelm in 1908 President Teddy Roosevelt admonished leave it as it is you cannot improve upon it the ages have been at work on it and man can only Mar it the Grand Canyon is the deepest and oldest layer of the Colorado Plateau a story of erosion millions of years in the telling in more ways than one it's a place where history meets the present John Wesley Powell had the first successful expedition through the Grand Canyon where previous explorers had perished only 30 years later at the turn of the 20th century the Grand Canyon Railway made access to this natural marvel easier and more accessible the journey begins in the town of Williams and ends at the world-famous out of our hotel built on the rim of the canyon in 1905 in the same year Mary Jane Colter working in an era where a few women held architecture degrees designed hopi house one of the things that was distinctive about Mary Jane Colter is that the architecture she created was able to actually blend in with the landscape you know you think about the El Tovar it's it's it's striking it's it's a Norwegian hunting lodge but all four structures they blend in very very well it forms the background for presentations by authentic Hopi dancers [Music] I saw a condor in the San Diego Zoo and it was just sitting there and it didn't happen at first but after a while just said Mike this thing's bigger than an eagle it's bigger than a golden eagle and then it just started spreading its wings and as his wings began to spread they just kept spreading and it just kept unfolding and as all I did it unfolded its wings and there was a little kid that was there watching and it's a high judgment because it just got bigger and bigger and bigger and so I remember thinking at the time that the zoo itself and the walls the zoo disappeared and I just saw this it was almost like the wilderness itself and the expansiveness of the West itself spreading its wings right in front of us and I forgot I was in the zoo I was in the presence of this incredible organism this incredible bird and it was just it would let me breathless just see how wings could unfold forever right in front of me and I said I said remember thinking no wonder isn't such a big enclosure it needs something big just to contain those wings and to contain that wildness which was still in that Condor for a long time the Condor species was in serious danger in 1987 there were only 22 left in the world a conservation and recovery plan was put into effect and after much work the Condor population has grown back to around 400 a much healthier number [Music] the North Rim of the Grand Canyon offers a different perspective there are many overlooks along the North Rim but Bright Angel Point is one of the most spectacular Grand Canyon Lodge offers one of the most dramatic settings of any hotel in the world perched on the very rim of the vast Gorge to really take in the grandeur of the North Rim hike or take a mule trip down the North Kaibab trail into the interior of the canyon it'll be an experience you will never forget [Music] the geology mucin T is different from the geology of the Grand Canyon the Grand Canyon looking at mostly sedimentary rock but here in Yosemite you're looking at granite granite is a plutonic igneous rock you're looking at something that's not volcanic it's plutonic it's something that actually was uplifted and then eroded away and reveals the granite that was underneath but it's a different expression of the same story it's still a story of the continent but it's here it's a little bit of a different expression no temple carved with hands can compare with Yosemite every rock in its walls seems to glow with life John Muir if somebody is special not because of one thing is simile is special it's a it's not a special time in the right the best word for it Yosemite is unique because of the interconnectedness of so many wonderful things if it was just the waterfalls would be a great place if it was just seeing a a bear walking through Stoneman meadow at sunrise would be a wonderful place if it was just taking a rest from a walk early in the morning in the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia when right above you is the grizzly giant just that alone would make it an incredible place but when you have this combination of the giant Sequoia and Yosemite Falls and half down El Capitan the Merced River all those things in combination create something that is greater than the sum of all the parts of all the pieces it's almost too much it really is its over-the-top to be in this environment it's off the charts it results in silence being speechless being so moved you can't even find the words to express what you're feeling the awanee hotel is one of the most striking man-made features in Yosemite named after the native Iowan Ichi word for Yosemite Valley this beautiful building of granite walls slate roofs and copper trim was designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1927 the oldest Lodge in the park is the one a hotel built in 1876 it continues to accommodate tourists seeking to explore the Mariposa Grove home to some of the largest and most famous sequoia trees in the world Yosemite Valley is only one percent of the parks total area so a visit to the high country should not be missed over 4,000 feet above the valley floor the high country is a Sierra wonderland of lakes streams and mountains in 1914 Lassen Peak began a series of eruptions that came to a violent climax the following year when the peak literally blew its top this is the only known motion picture of the eruptions [Music] Lassen Volcanic National Park is a hotbed of geothermal activity with pools of boiling water and steaming fumaroles the distinct odor of sulfur is constantly in the air free of ice only during the warmer months lake helen is a beautiful glacial lake near the base of lhasa peak nearby the boiling hot springs and steaming hot acid pools form the largest geothermal area in the park a place called bumpass hell [Music] it is a rugged blackened reminder of the powerful forces at work beneath the surface of the earth [Music] crater lake was created by the collapse of an ancient volcano Mount Mazama erupted in the 8th century BC covering much of the west and parts of Canada with ash the resulting late 1940 3 feet deep is the deepest lake in the United States with the highest water quality to be found anywhere it is beauty born of devastation evidence of that violent Cataclysm still remains the blast was 100 times greater than the 1980 eruption of Mount st. Helens two islands reside in these deep waters the phantom ship and wizard Island nearby Senate Memorial overlook provides panoramic views of the lake [Music] Olympic National Park contains three distinct ecosystems the first is the western seaboard on the Pacific Ocean where rocky cliffs and sea stacks punctuate sandy beaches strewn with driftwood Ruby Beach is typical of Olympics rugged coastline sea stack rocks and tide pools rich with marine life further inland primeval forests dominate the landscape on average they receive a hundred fifty inches of precipitation per year making it the only deciduous rainforest on the continent and at the heart of Olympic National Park the third ecosystem is found in the towering Olympic Mountains [Music] any one of this trio seashore forests and mountains would be worthy of National Park Service protection the combination of these three biomes makes this fresh and vibrant land startlingly unique [Music] [Music] [Music] along the rugged coast of Northern California ancient groves of some of the world's tallest trees grow this is Redwood National Park and while these trees may look like the giant sequoias of the High Sierras there are different species altogether Coast redwoods are taller and narrower and can be found at sea level giant sequoias are only found above 5000 foot elevation although it's hard to imagine these trees once came close to extinction originally this area of Southern Oregon Northern California had about two million acres of old-growth redwood trees in the 1800s when the loggers first started cutting down these trees it was a multi-day job just to cut down a single redwood tree but throughout the 1800's technology kind of developed and enabled the logging operations to happen at a much faster rate by the early 1900's people were looking around at what used to be these majestic old-growth redwood forests and realizing that something needed to be done to make sure that that there were remaining redwoods and it wasn't until about 1968 that the National Park was formed to protect some of the tallest trees that had been discovered to date Redwood National and state parks also protect miles of rugged coastline the coastal drive is a nine mile loop that brings you to the edge of high coastal Bluffs overlooking the vast Pacific Ocean and the crashing waves below the fact that there are some trails where you could hike through an old-growth redwood forest and you really feel the history of what these 2,000 year old trees represent but then as you hike along you can hike down to the ocean that diversity that juxtaposition between those two different types of ecosystems to me is really fascinating and fun to explore [Music] Golden Gate National Recreation Area is the largest urban National Park in the world situated in and around San Francisco California from the old-growth redwood forests of Muir Woods and miles of sandy beaches to historic forts monuments and the retired prison island of Alcatraz the stories contained within Golden Gate National Recreation Area are lush with natural and cultural diversity and historical significance [Music] while redwoods maybe the tallest trees in the world the giant sequoia is the largest in volume and they can be found at higher elevations up in the Sierra Nevada to the south at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks the largest of these is the General Sherman tree 275 feet tall 25 feet wide and nearly 3,000 years old live each season as it passes breathe the air drink the drink taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each Henry David Thoreau [Music] you [Music] in the middle of the Mojave Desert in the lowest and driest area in North America Death Valley National Park is a place of extremes it holds the highest recorded air temperature in the world at 134 degrees Fahrenheit and sinks 282 feet below sea level yet in the middle of this harsh and barren land occasional rain storms bring Dell uses of water allowing life to flourish in the most impossible of places [Music] [Music] [Music] Carlsbad Caverns is one of the world's most impressive caves unlike many caves here your exploration is not restricted to guided tours paved walkways and railings make it safe to explore this underground Wonderland at your own pace [Music] while most caves owe their existence to carbonic acid dissolving limestone rock Carlsbad Caverns was enhanced by the much more powerful sulfuric acid the big room of Carlsbad is the seventh largest natural chamber in the world there's enough floor space here to hold six football fields and the ceiling towers to over 300 feet here underneath the desert of New Mexico a vast and extraordinary beauty lies for those willing to go looking for it one of my favorite times this summer at working in the visitors center this lady came in and she just you could just tell she was excited and she came up and I was so glad that I was the one that she talked to because she said I haven't been here in 40 years and I'm bringing back my daughter and my grandchildren and it that comment absolutely made my summer because that's that's why we're here that's why this park is protected as a National Park and I could see in her eyes I could see the same way that I feel every day that I'm here [Music] Badlands National Park is a colorful landscape that reveals formations laid down millions of years ago eroded from soft volcanic and sedimentary rock this is a land rich with fossils where wind and weather have shaped the gullied hills into an endless variety of strange forms the rain from a single thunderstorm can erode away enough material for new fossils to emerge that weren't exposed the day before [Music] to the west of Badlands in the Black Hills region of South Dakota lies the impressive Mount Rushmore National Memorial here 60-foot sculptures of four of our most influential presidents George Washington Thomas Jefferson Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are carved into the mountainside together they represent different eras of our country's history and fundamental aspects of our American heritage but at the same time now Rushmore is in the badlands you know the homelands of indigenous people so from the perspective of someone who is Sioux Lakota Dakota Sioux it shouldn't be there or the fact that it's there symbolizes a history of of subjugation a history where certain people were not even perceived as being people so there's a lot of pain that's tied into the DNA of Mount Rushmore into the history of Mount Rushmore it's a problem but you know what American history is filled with problems and history itself is the record of problems of conflict there's a great place to start a conversation I mean one group could be moved to tears because they're saying this was our homeland this is the land of our ancestors you know our blood are is part of the soil here and another group is thinking oh boy I just love what teddy roosevelt did he was a great president and they're all right in their own particular perspective on that story they're all completely right [Music] when you're hiking on a trail in the Sierra Nevada because you're in a national park whether it be Sequoia National Park in Yosemite National Park in general you're seeing much of what John Muir would have seen or what the Ahwahnee she would have seen or the Paiute would have seen when you're floating down the Colorado River today on a raft trip you're seeing essentially what John Wesley Powell saw and you're seeing it because that area did become a national park you can feel what they felt you can see what John Wesley Powell saw you can feel what John Muir felt when he was walking through a grove of giant sequoia and that's the power of national parks [Music] the western United States is filled with hidden treasures of unparalleled beauty forests that have never been cut down rivers that have never been dammed rock formations that have never been disturbed wildlife that has never been tamed stories whose beginning stretched back to before the age of the dinosaurs and have been protected so that they can be told to you [Music]

Channel: finleyholiday

Views: 6,852

Rating: 4.9139786 out of 5

Keywords: Western National Parks, Ranger Shelton Johnson, national park, national parks, national park service, Yosemite, Grand Teton, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Capitol Reef, Mesa Verde, Lake Powell, Glen Canyon

Id: VVu-E6ypnYY

Length: 63min 8sec (3788 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 20 2020