California
Four Jewels: Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite & Death Valley
Program No. 4352RJ
Witness awe-inspiring nature, grand artifacts of geography, ancient flora and unique fauna as you immerse yourself in four of California’s most stunning National Parks.
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DATES
& starting prices
PRICES
Jun 7 - Jun 15, 2024
Starting at
3,399DATES
& starting prices
PRICES
Jun 7 - Jun 15, 2024
Starting at
4,269Sep 20 - Sep 28, 2024
Starting at
5,599Not seeing the date you're looking for?
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9 days
8 nights
21 meals
8B 7L 6D
1
Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner
Sierra Nevada Mountains - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park
2
Sequoia National Park, General Sherman Tree
Sierra Nevada Mountains - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park
3
Kings Canyon National Park, Roaring Falls, Zumwalt Meadows
Sierra Nevada Mountains - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park
4
Wawona, Yosemite History Center
Sierra Nevada Mountains - Yosemite National Park
5
Full-Day Yosemite National Park Field Trip
Sierra Nevada Mountains - Yosemite National Park
6
Tioga Pass, Tuolumne Meadow, Mono Basin, Film History Museum
Sierra Nevada Mountains - Owens Valley
7
Manzanar Historic Site, Alabama Hills
Owens Valley - Death Valley National Park
8
Zabriskie Point, Badwater, Death Valley Visitor Center
Owens Valley - Death Valley National Park
9
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Program Concludes
Los Angeles Airport Area
At a Glance
Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley: four spectacular American National Parks. Explore them from the mighty Sierra Nevada range to the stark allure of the Mojave Desert as on-site presentations delve into their geologic, human and natural histories.
Activity Level
Keep the Pace
Walking up to two miles on uneven terrain on paved and unpaved paths. Long distances by large motorcoach with 3-4 hours each day on the coach. Elevations range from 4,000-8,000 feet.
What You'll Learn
- Study the magnificent forest ecosystem of Sequoia, named for giant trees that can live for more than 2,000 years.
- Admire granite monuments like El Capitan, Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall as you learn how Pleistocene glaciers carved the wonders of Yosemite Valley.
- Cross the Sierra Nevada to Mono Lake and Owens Valley and explore forbidding, dramatic, beautiful Death Valley.
General Notes
Includes long bus rides to reach rural site. Bus times can range from 3 to 4 hours each day.
Featured Expert
All trip experts
Frank Helling
Frank Helling is an active adventurer and naturalist who has spent much of his life “sauntering” in the footsteps of the great mountaineer, philosopher, and nature writer John Muir. He has backpacked, hiked, and climbed in the Sierras, Rockies, Cascades, Alps, Alaska, Hawaii, and the deserts of the American Southwest. A former high school science teacher, Frank has also worked as a ranger and naturalist in Kings Canyon National Park and as a professional wilderness instructor.
Please note: This expert may not be available for every date of this program.
Frank Helling
View biography
Frank Helling is an active adventurer and naturalist who has spent much of his life “sauntering” in the footsteps of the great mountaineer, philosopher, and nature writer John Muir. He has backpacked, hiked, and climbed in the Sierras, Rockies, Cascades, Alps, Alaska, Hawaii, and the deserts of the American Southwest. A former high school science teacher, Frank has also worked as a ranger and naturalist in Kings Canyon National Park and as a professional wilderness instructor.
Renee Rusler
View biography
Renee Rusler was born in the Southwest. She earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in ecology from the University of Arizona. Renee spent 20 years as an interpretive park ranger for the National Park Service, working in arid land parks such as Joshua Tree, Grand Canyon and Death Valley. She is now the death valley field institute director for the Death Valley Natural History Association (DVNHA), which is the official non-profit partner of Death Valley National Park and Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.
Suggested Reading List
(12 books)
Visit the Road Scholar Bookshop
You can find many of the books we recommend at the Road Scholar store on bookshop.org, a website that supports local bookstores.
Four Jewels: Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite & Death Valley
Program Number: 4352
Sierra Nevada Natural History
First published forty years ago, this handbook has become an enduring natural history classic, used by thousands to learn more about virtually every aspect of this spectacular mountain range--from its superb flora and fauna to its rugged topography. Comprehensive yet concise and portable, the book describes hundreds of species: trees and shrubs, flowering plants and ferns, fungi and lichens, insects and fish, amphibians and reptiles, and birds and mammals.
Water and Power
The author covers the politics, personalities, construction, opposition, and events leading up to the present situation in the Owens Valley.
Basin and Range
This is a complex but fascinating explanation of basin-range geology.
Men to Match My Mountains
An engaging history of the West
Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park
Many of the features that visitors find most tantalizing about Yosemite have unique and compelling geologic stories—tales that continue to unfold today in vivid, often destructive ways. While visiting more than twenty-seven amazing sites, you’ll discover why many of Yosemite’s domes shed rock shells like onion layers, what happens when a volcano erupts under a glacial lake, and why rocks seem to be almost continually tumbling from the region’s cliffs. With a multitude of colorful photos and illustrations, and prose tooled for the lay reader, Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park will help you read the landscape the way a geologist does.
Geology Underfoot in Death Valley and Eastern California: Second Edition
This volume provides an on-the-ground look at the processes sculpting the terrain of this region of extremes. Illustrated with photographs, maps, and diagrams, each geological vignette weaves the tale of a particular scene, feature, or relationship in the landscape.
Mountains of California
Enjoy these lyrical 1894 vignettes by John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.
The Yosemite Grant 1864-1906: A Pictorial History
A comprehensive, well-illustrated history of the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees.
John Muir, Son of the Wilderness
Pulitizer Prize-winning biography of the great naturalist, John Muir
Land of Little Rain
This is a 1904 classic about the Eastern Sierra.
Farewell to Manzanar
This is a moving account of a family interned in Manzanar during WW II.
Cadillac Desert
In this stunning work of history and investigative journalism, Reisner tells the story of conflicts over water policy in the West and the resulting damage to the land, wildlife and Indians.