Yosemite and Sequoia: John Muir's California

Crafted by Tauck and Ken Burns - When John Muir first wandered into the Sierra Nevada in 1869, the power of the otherworldly landscape - cathedral-like groves of towering Sequoias, glacier-clad mountain peaks, plunging canyons, crystal lakes and torrential waterfalls - transformed him forever. "We are now in the mountains," he wrote, euphorically, "and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore ...

Yosemite and Sequoia: John Muir's California

Crafted by Tauck and Ken Burns - When John Muir first wandered into the Sierra Nevada in 1869, the power of the otherworldly landscape - cathedral-like groves of towering Sequoias, glacier-clad mountain peaks, plunging canyons, crystal lakes and torrential waterfalls - transformed him forever. "We are now in the mountains," he wrote, euphorically, "and they are in us, kindling enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore and cell of us." The self-made naturalist made it his mission to explore and document every natural wonder in the Giant Forest and the Yosemite Valley of the Ahwahneechee, "to get as near to the heart of the world as I can," but even more, to ensure that these wild places were preserved for future generations as national parks. The awe-inspiring wilderness of Muir Woods, Yosemite and Sequoia national parks, with their life-changing power, is still there as Muir experienced it, waiting for you to explore on this unique Tauck journey - partnering with filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan - that not only celebrates the parks' natural wonders, but tells the remarkable inside stories of how they came to be preserved for all time... from the personal journeys of pioneers, naturalists, transcendentalists and politicians, to the adventures of the African-American cavalry regiment known as the Buffalo Soldiers, who defended and maintained the parks before there was a National Parks Service... the individuals behind an American idea we now take for granted, that vast swaths of the nation's landscape should be preserved for not just for kings or the very rich, but for everyone... wild, transformative places where (like Muir) we can experience self-discovery and the spiritual mountains within.

Discover the story of John Muir and America's national parks, exploring Muir Woods, Sequoia and Yosemite national parks, plus three nights in San Francisco - Crafted by Tauck and Ken Burns; filmed vignettes by filmmakers Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan tell the stories behind the creation and preservation of the national parks; visit the Presidio, home of the "Buffalo Soldiers" who played a key role in the history of the national parks; discover the night sky over Sequoia National Park with a naturalist Less