0:00:02 > 0:00:07I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of North America
0:00:07 > 0:00:10with my faithful Appleton's guide.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Published in the late 19th century,
0:00:15 > 0:00:18it will direct me to everything that's novel, beautiful,
0:00:18 > 0:00:21memorable and curious
0:00:21 > 0:00:24in the United States.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26- ALL:- Yee-haw!
0:00:26 > 0:00:29As I travel through this vast continent,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31I'll discover gold and silver,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36movies and microchips, oil and oranges,
0:00:36 > 0:00:39and learn how America's most famous railroad
0:00:39 > 0:00:42conquered the wild landscapes of the West.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34My journey in Northern California continues,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37moving away from San Francisco.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39I'll consider the power of the intellect
0:01:39 > 0:01:41and the force of nature.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44The Gold Rush raped the environment,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47tearing up the hills and polluting the rivers.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50If you believed in karma, you might think that
0:01:50 > 0:01:54the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was nature's revenge.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59This rail line actually passes over the San Andreas fault.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02I'll discover that it took a Scotsman and a teddy
0:02:02 > 0:02:07to teach US citizens to cherish America the Beautiful.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20I'm making a 1,000-mile excursion from Reno, Nevada,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24to San Diego in Southern California.
0:02:24 > 0:02:26Today, I start in Northern California,
0:02:26 > 0:02:29in the seismic city of Berkeley,
0:02:29 > 0:02:32before unearthing agricultural revolutions in Stockton.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37I'll leave the tracks to explore the wilderness of Yosemite
0:02:37 > 0:02:40in California's Sierra Nevada mountains.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47On this leg, foundations are rocked...
0:02:47 > 0:02:49The earthquake has begun.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54An incredibly sharp jolt that time.
0:02:54 > 0:02:57..I try not to lose my footing...
0:02:57 > 0:02:59- Scared of heights?- Yes.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02Does the rope make it all the way to the ground?
0:03:02 > 0:03:04I don't know that. THEY LAUGH
0:03:04 > 0:03:07..and end up in a flat spin.
0:03:08 > 0:03:14Turning this two-tonne beast is hard work.
0:03:27 > 0:03:30I'm travelling on the Bart commuter rail,
0:03:30 > 0:03:33heading eastwards on the Millbrae to Richmond line.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42Berkeley is my first port of call on the shores of San Francisco Bay.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51Originally settled as Oceanview during the 1850s,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55the city's population boomed with displaced San Franciscans
0:03:55 > 0:03:59following the catastrophic earthquake and fire of 1906.
0:03:59 > 0:04:06The state's oldest university campus opened here in 1868
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and is renowned for its pioneering research,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12notably in the field of earthquake science.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16At Berkeley, says Appleton's,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19is located the University of California,
0:04:19 > 0:04:23a state-aided institution which is open to both sexes
0:04:23 > 0:04:25and where tuition is free.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27At this brain-packed university,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29earth-shaking discoveries are made daily.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake
0:04:37 > 0:04:42struck San Francisco on April 18, 1906,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46resulting in a four-day-long inferno.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49More than 80% of the city was destroyed
0:04:49 > 0:04:52and at least 3,000 people perished.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56To discuss its impact on geological science,
0:04:56 > 0:04:58I've come to see Dr Peggy Hellweg.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04- Peggy. Hello, I'm Michael. - Nice to meet you.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07- Welcome to the Berkeley seismo lab. - Thank you very much.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10I came to talk about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
0:05:10 > 0:05:12Why was there one?
0:05:12 > 0:05:14The surface of the Earth is covered with plates.
0:05:14 > 0:05:19These plates are moving relative to each other, past each other,
0:05:19 > 0:05:21under each other and over each other.
0:05:21 > 0:05:25California is a region where the plates are moving past each other
0:05:25 > 0:05:29and the San Andreas fault is the main expression of the boundary
0:05:29 > 0:05:33between those two plates. People back in 1906 didn't know that.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Where does the San Andreas fault run?
0:05:35 > 0:05:39The San Andreas fault runs from the south, near the Salton Sea,
0:05:39 > 0:05:43all the way up through California, past San Francisco
0:05:43 > 0:05:46and it goes into the ocean near Cape Mendocino
0:05:46 > 0:05:48in northernmost California.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51- That's a tremendous distance. - So, on the order of 800 miles.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Just days after the disaster,
0:05:55 > 0:05:58geophysicists commenced a two-year project
0:05:58 > 0:06:00to compile data and observations
0:06:00 > 0:06:04and to document how the state's varied geology was affected.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08This map here shows the shaking intensity
0:06:08 > 0:06:10based on the reports of damage.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13The shaking was very strong in the Bay Area. There are
0:06:13 > 0:06:16other seismic stations operated all over the world already in 1906.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19Records from Potsdam in Germany, for example,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23where you can see these are the surface waves from the earthquake.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27These are other cities. Munich, and here's one from the Isle of Wight.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30And this massive event in each of these charts
0:06:30 > 0:06:34is measuring the San Francisco earthquake at a distance of what,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36- 6,000 miles?- Yes.
0:06:36 > 0:06:40As far as a future earthquake is concerned,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43- is it a question of if or when? - It's a question of when.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52Using scientific knowledge gained in the centuries since 1906,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55research engineers are now better equipped
0:06:55 > 0:06:57to prepare Californian architecture
0:06:57 > 0:07:00for the high probability of an earthquake.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Grace Kang is going to show me
0:07:02 > 0:07:05the university's ground-breaking test equipment.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08- Hello, Grace.- Hi, Michael.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10- Good to see you. Thank you for coming.- Good to see you.
0:07:10 > 0:07:14Is this, then, the famous shaking table?
0:07:14 > 0:07:17This is the shaking table at UC Berkeley.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19It is the largest six degree-of-freedom shaking table
0:07:19 > 0:07:23in the United States, and actually, it was constructed in 1972.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27- What is it used for?- The purpose of this table is to actually
0:07:27 > 0:07:31test specimens under realistic earthquake motions
0:07:31 > 0:07:34so that we don't have to wait for the next earthquake to occur
0:07:34 > 0:07:38before we find out how buildings behave. We can do that in the lab.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40When you acquire that information,
0:07:40 > 0:07:42what's the practical application of it?
0:07:42 > 0:07:46The practical application of that information is that we can
0:07:46 > 0:07:50find out what designs work well, we can experiment
0:07:50 > 0:07:55and create improvements on designs, and then, once again,
0:07:55 > 0:07:59validate that information on the shaking table itself.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Well, do you mind if we give your table a shake?
0:08:02 > 0:08:04Oh, we'd love to show it to you.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13Concrete base is rising.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18Here we go.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20The earthquake has begun. GRACE LAUGHS
0:08:20 > 0:08:23Now, up and down and side to side...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27An incredibly sharp jolt that time.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- Wow.- Quite a jolt.
0:08:32 > 0:08:33Here we go again.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37Great roll as though of thunder,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40very vigorous movements from side to side,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42- and up and down.- Up and down too.
0:08:42 > 0:08:43But to think, you know,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46that is the earth beneath your building, that is...
0:08:46 > 0:08:47An appalling prospect.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49And this is scary, what we've see here today,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52but I suppose the hope is that by this sort of experiment,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55better buildings can be designed for the future?
0:08:55 > 0:08:56Yes, that's our goal here, Michael.
0:09:00 > 0:09:01Wow!
0:09:20 > 0:09:24At Richmond station, I'm resuming my travels with the Amtrak network
0:09:24 > 0:09:26on the San Joaquin line.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36I'll be making a 90-minute journey,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39ploughing east to my next destination.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51My next stop will be Stockton, California,
0:09:51 > 0:09:53which Appleton's tells me is situated
0:09:53 > 0:09:58at the head of tide navigation of the San Joaquin river.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02"Compactly built, with handsome public buildings
0:10:02 > 0:10:05"that indicate enterprise and taste."
0:10:05 > 0:10:08Well, one enterprising citizen
0:10:08 > 0:10:12was to set rough terrain vehicles on a new track.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23Thanks for the ride. Bye, now.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Stockton was the first Californian city to acquire a name
0:10:29 > 0:10:32that was neither Spanish nor Native American.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35With its strategic location on several waterways,
0:10:35 > 0:10:39the city flourished as an important transport gateway
0:10:39 > 0:10:41during the Gold Rush of the mid-19th century.
0:10:43 > 0:10:45By the early 20th century,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48Stockton was well known for producing farm machinery
0:10:48 > 0:10:51that would revolutionise equipment for agriculture,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53road-building and construction.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02To gain an insight into the man responsible for those machines,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04I've arranged to meet Dave Stewart
0:11:04 > 0:11:07of the San Joaquin Historical Museum.
0:11:10 > 0:11:11Dave, who was Benjamin Holt?
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Well, he's gone down in history as really the person that perfected
0:11:16 > 0:11:18the tracked vehicle.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Was there a eureka moment for Benjamin Holt?
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Well, he first took a steam traction engine,
0:11:24 > 0:11:28this big behemoth steam-powered wheeled tractor,
0:11:28 > 0:11:33and took the wheels off and put his first design of tracks on it.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36Tested it, and it worked,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38so they took it to their farm out in the delta,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41on Roberts Island, and used it all winter.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44And it was successful, and that really became
0:11:44 > 0:11:48the start of what we know now as the caterpillar.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Holt manufactured these caterpillar-tracked machines
0:11:53 > 0:11:58to work the deep peat soils of the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01The metal oblong tracks were better than wheels
0:12:01 > 0:12:04in areas where heavy vehicles might sink,
0:12:04 > 0:12:08because the weight was distributed over a larger contact area.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11I think of tracked vehicles as being used by the military,
0:12:11 > 0:12:13and eventually as a tank, of course.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Did the military see the potential quickly?
0:12:15 > 0:12:19The Holt 75 was immensely successful.
0:12:19 > 0:12:24They built over 4,000 of those, and half of those were used
0:12:24 > 0:12:28in Europe in World War I, and the British quickly realised
0:12:28 > 0:12:33they could import these tracked vehicles for hauling ammunition
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and artillery, and so on, and it was a huge breakthrough.
0:12:37 > 0:12:38They weren't armoured initially,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42but just as transportation vehicles, they were very valuable.
0:12:42 > 0:12:43You know what would make my day?
0:12:43 > 0:12:47- If you had one of these machines that worked.- We do!
0:12:53 > 0:12:54- Hello, Mike!- Hey!
0:12:55 > 0:12:56What is this lovely machine?
0:12:56 > 0:13:00This is a Holt 210, 1925.
0:13:00 > 0:13:03- May I take it for a spin? - You certainly can.- Thank you.
0:13:03 > 0:13:04I'll give you a crank.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09- You ready?- Yeah.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12ENGINE STUTTERS TO LIFE
0:13:32 > 0:13:34Turning this two-tonne beast
0:13:34 > 0:13:38is hard work!
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Appleton's urged people to take to the tracks.
0:13:49 > 0:13:51But I didn't have this in mind!
0:14:08 > 0:14:13I'm leaving the tracks to make an unmissable detour east,
0:14:13 > 0:14:16to an area that looms large in the history of conservation.
0:14:19 > 0:14:20Following the advice of my Appleton's,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22I'm destined for Yosemite,
0:14:22 > 0:14:26a crown jewel of America's national parks.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44I'll be excited to explore in the morning, bright and early.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31"The Yosemite Valley," says Appleton's,
0:15:31 > 0:15:33"with walls a mile high,
0:15:33 > 0:15:36"rivers pouring in wonderful waterfalls over the edge,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40"its domes and lakes and valleys equal the Alps
0:15:40 > 0:15:43"in grandeur and beauty."
0:15:43 > 0:15:46And this morning at dawn, I would tend to agree.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Ranger Jamie Richards has offered to drop me
0:15:59 > 0:16:03in the depths of Yosemite Valley, along the route that would have
0:16:03 > 0:16:05greeted the late 19th-century traveller.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10If you think about, you know, 1870s to 1890s,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13you're coming in the stagecoach, you've picked up a guide,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15you're coming in from a train,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19and you're coming into Yosemite National Park for the first time.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23- Many people had never seen anything like this before.- I'm sure not.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30What's the geological explanation of these very sheer cliffs?
0:16:30 > 0:16:33The granite cliffs that tower over our heads and the way
0:16:33 > 0:16:39the valley was carved out, glaciers formed, slowly receded.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44Through weather, water and time, we have this lovely valley form.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49- Bye-bye.- Bye!
0:17:08 > 0:17:13My guidebook describes in great detail the varied sites,
0:17:13 > 0:17:17dazzling colours, and fragrance of the park.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21In the southern reaches, the giant Sequoia trees of Mariposa Grove
0:17:21 > 0:17:26are noted as reaching heights in excess of 300 feet.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Appleton's also remarks on the striking peculiarities
0:17:31 > 0:17:34found here in Yosemite Valley.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43Beautiful stag. Not, apparently, at all nervous of me.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47Quite small, but with wonderful antlers.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I think I counted 10 or 12 points.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14One of the tallest mountains in Yosemite, El Capitan,
0:18:14 > 0:18:19an enormous face of bare rock, beautifully illuminated by the sun,
0:18:19 > 0:18:24and two intrepid climbers, tiny against the enormous mountain.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37- Hello.- Hi there.- Hello. - Are you getting good photos?- Yeah.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40- We're trying to, yeah. - It's a beautiful place.- True.
0:18:40 > 0:18:41How are you finding it?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43- Really beautiful. - Really, really amazing. Incredible.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45First time here, and we really love it.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48How far have you come? Where are you from?
0:18:48 > 0:18:50- We're from Belgium. - Ah, Belgium. Right.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54- Is it as good as you hoped it would be?- Even better.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Makes us feel small.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Yeah, we're insignificant by comparison, aren't we?
0:19:00 > 0:19:03- I'll let you enjoy it. - Thank you very much.- Thanks.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12Before the first tourists, early white settlers in Yosemite
0:19:12 > 0:19:16were seeking gold during the middle 19th century.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Indigenous tribes were killed
0:19:18 > 0:19:23or driven out of their ancestral homelands onto reservations.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Then came a peaceful crusade that would blaze
0:19:26 > 0:19:29a trail for the conservation movement.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35Scott Gediman has been a park ranger here for 20 years.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Scott, this is such a magnificent place.
0:19:42 > 0:19:46- Do we know what significance it had for Native Americans?- We do.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50We think that Native Americans have lived in Yosemite Valley
0:19:50 > 0:19:52and around for upwards of 9,000 years.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56And as sacred as we find this place right now,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59the Native Americans found it just as sacred during that time,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02and they're still living in the area.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04And then, the white settlers who came,
0:20:04 > 0:20:07they presumably quickly understood its beauty?
0:20:07 > 0:20:11They did, and so when people started coming to the area,
0:20:11 > 0:20:14it was to seek their fortune, and so it wasn't necessarily
0:20:14 > 0:20:17for the beauty, but once people saw
0:20:17 > 0:20:19the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22and they came here to Yosemite Valley,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25people were instantly struck with its beauty.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27And then, did that attract artists?
0:20:27 > 0:20:29I'm just wondering were images of all this travelling
0:20:29 > 0:20:32back to the east, and to Europe, for that matter?
0:20:32 > 0:20:35So, there was a particular photographer by the name of
0:20:35 > 0:20:39Carleton Watkins, who took a lot of the early photographs
0:20:39 > 0:20:41of the park, and so it was these photographs
0:20:41 > 0:20:44that were shown to President Lincoln,
0:20:44 > 0:20:48that prompted him to sign the legislation that established
0:20:48 > 0:20:51Yosemite as a forest reserve at the time,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54which was the first time in the history of the world
0:20:54 > 0:20:59that a piece of land had been set aside for preservation.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03Abraham Lincoln had designated Yosemite
0:21:03 > 0:21:06as a public recreational area.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09But increased tourism began to degrade the wilderness.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13John Muir, a Scottish-born naturalist and writer,
0:21:13 > 0:21:16campaigned passionately for greater protection,
0:21:16 > 0:21:21persuading the US Congress in 1890 to pass a bill
0:21:21 > 0:21:24establishing Yosemite as a National Park.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27This offered federal government protection,
0:21:27 > 0:21:31including the services of the US Army - in particular,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35African-American cavalry known as Buffalo Soldiers.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40Shelton Johnson is a ranger
0:21:40 > 0:21:43committed to keeping their story alive.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50- How are you, sir? - Well, hello!- Hello.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53- Mind if I get down? - You get down, please.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59- This is a cavalry uniform that you're wearing?- Yes, sir, it is.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02What is the connection between the old Buffalo soldiers
0:22:02 > 0:22:03and the Rangers of today?
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Well, the connection is just, basically, it's the same thing.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08It's just the separation of 100 years.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12Because they were performing the duties that wilderness rangers,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14or mountain wilderness rangers, patrol today.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17In the aftermath of the Civil War,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20several all-African-American army units were formed
0:22:20 > 0:22:25from enlisted union soldiers. But due to racial prejudice,
0:22:25 > 0:22:28they could serve only west of the Mississippi river.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Up to 500 were entrusted with protecting
0:22:31 > 0:22:34California's National Parks.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39October 1, 1890, it changed everything.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41Now, this was not just a place you could ride up
0:22:41 > 0:22:43whenever you wanted to and do whatever you wanted to do.
0:22:43 > 0:22:45Now, it was a National Park,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and cutting the trees down got itself a new name.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51You cut trees down, you're called a timber thief.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54You shoot the deer, you're called a poacher.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00Before policing the country's National Parks,
0:23:00 > 0:23:03Buffalo Soldiers played a key role in westward expansion,
0:23:03 > 0:23:06building infrastructure, protecting settlers,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09and fighting Native Americans on the frontier.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Well, Buffalo Soldiers is a name that was given to the troops
0:23:14 > 0:23:16during the Indian wars.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19So the two people who got the most in common,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21the Indians and these coloured soldiers,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24are the very two people who are trying to kill each other,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27not because they want to, but because there's some things
0:23:27 > 0:23:30in this life you've got no control over.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33So they were the ones who saw the hair on our head was just
0:23:33 > 0:23:36liked the matted cushion between the horns of the buffalo,
0:23:36 > 0:23:39and because the buffalo was sacred to them,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43that's why we consider the name Buffalo Soldier a term of respect.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47It may not have been intended to be, but we took it.
0:23:47 > 0:23:48We laid claim to it,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and now we think of it as something that's good.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59The Army protected Yosemite until 1916,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02when the National Park Service was created.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06John Muir, who had been so instrumental in safeguarding
0:24:06 > 0:24:10America's natural landscapes, also founded the Sierra Club,
0:24:10 > 0:24:14one of the first major conservation bodies, still active today.
0:24:15 > 0:24:20Early club members were introduced to hiking trips known as outings.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Muir encouraged,
0:24:26 > 0:24:29and I'm compelled to follow his advice.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43- Hello, David.- Hey!
0:24:43 > 0:24:45- Nice ascent?- Yeah, thank you.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49Yosemite offers pretty good mountaineering opportunities,
0:24:49 > 0:24:52- does it?- Yeah, absolutely! Look at this place.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55And what would you recommend for someone of advanced years
0:24:55 > 0:24:58who's hardly ever climbed a rock before?
0:24:58 > 0:25:01I would say rock climbing is good for everybody.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02There's always something for everybody,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04and you look pretty darn fit to me.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06Maybe you should try rappelling.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09So, spread your legs a little bit, lean back.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13You want your legs about perpendicular from the rock.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Looks easy, huh?
0:25:16 > 0:25:18And just go on down like so.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22- Scared of heights?- Yes!
0:25:24 > 0:25:27- Locked.- All right. I'm going to let go of the weight of the rope.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30- OK. Here we go. Holding that hand there, not letting go.- Yeah.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33- Legs apart.- Perfect.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36- And over the edge I go.- Go, go, go.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38- Feel OK? - Feeling OK at the moment, Dave.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Does the rope make it all the way to the ground?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I don't know that! THEY LAUGH
0:25:45 > 0:25:48- All right!- By very gently letting the rope through there...
0:25:48 > 0:25:51- Looks great to me. - Keeping my legs apart...- Perfect.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53I don't want to go down too fast.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Perfect. There you go.
0:25:59 > 0:26:00Getting a little bit steeper now.
0:26:02 > 0:26:05- Yeah, you're in the steepest bit there.- Am I?- Yeah.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08Nice and smooth and steady.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13- And you've got me if I do anything wrong?- Absolutely.
0:26:15 > 0:26:16Doing great.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21My mouth is so dry, I can't...
0:26:21 > 0:26:23HE LAUGHS
0:26:23 > 0:26:25Good job. Are you safe?
0:26:27 > 0:26:31- Portillo to Mission Control. The eagle has landed!- Great job!
0:26:50 > 0:26:53A more effortless way to enjoy the park
0:26:53 > 0:26:56is at the cold-as-ice water's edge,
0:26:56 > 0:27:00which reflects the grandeur of this untamed wonderland.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13A key point of conflict between the white settlers
0:27:13 > 0:27:17and the Native Americans was that the latter group, in the main,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19had no concept of private property.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24For the pioneers, winning the West was all about grabbing land
0:27:24 > 0:27:27by driving your stake into virgin soil.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32So the idea of land held in trust like a National Park
0:27:32 > 0:27:35didn't sit easily with American political philosophies
0:27:35 > 0:27:38like individualism and small government.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41Perhaps the Scottish-born John Muir
0:27:41 > 0:27:44was less encumbered by such ideological baggage.
0:27:44 > 0:27:49Anyway, today there are 59 National Parks like Yosemite,
0:27:49 > 0:27:53where the glories of the American wilderness are protected.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03Next time, my head will grapple with California's Japanese heritage...
0:28:03 > 0:28:05FIGHTER EXCLAIMS
0:28:05 > 0:28:06Oh!
0:28:06 > 0:28:10It's a very odd feeling, being hit on the head repeatedly!
0:28:11 > 0:28:14..I'll marvel at the world's tallest trees...
0:28:14 > 0:28:17People come from all over the world to enjoy these trees.
0:28:17 > 0:28:20- To see them from the train, Bill, is special.- Oh, it really is.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21I never tire of the view.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24..and face total wipe-out.