Walkin West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California, home to the great outdoors of the Mother Lode Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin West is brought to you in part by Visit El Dorado, visit Tuolumne and visit Calaveras County visitors bureaus.

Discover the history of the gold rush, pristine mountain lakes and the waterfalls of Yosemite, all here in California's Gold Country.

Walkin West is brought to you by Ironstone Vineyards, home to a 44 pound gold leaf crystaline specimen, and where we've been producing red and white wines in the historic gold country since 1989.

Ironstone vineyards Murphy's, California.

Walkin West is brought to you by the Big Sur River Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, California.

The Big Sur River Inn, where you can hike and explore the rugged coastal trails of the West in a respectful, responsible way.

Big Sur River Inn.

I'm Steve Welden and boy, do I love adventure.

Whether it's a good long hike, climbing a big old rock or checking out that secret swimming hole I'm raring to go!

Join me as we hike for the crest of the Rockies to the beautiful Pacific coast.

Right here on Walkin West.

MUSIC Hi, I'm Steve Weldon welcome to Walkin West.

Today we are going to hike the trails of one of the deepest canyons in the world.

And one of the three deepest canyons in the United States.

I'm talking about Kings Canyon.

Now, Kings Canyon became a national park in 1940, but originally in 1890.

It was a national park called General Grant's National Park.

It was only about 2500 acres in size then, but now it's over 400,000 acres.

Yeah, the federal government decided this is too important not to treasure and not to protect.

And we're going to hike the trails of this park, home of the General Grant tree, home of incredible canyons, the Kings River, and a whole lot more.

I can't wait.

Let's get started right here on Walkin West.

From jagged peaks to deep canyons and clear mountain streams, we're off to Kings Canyon National Park, just north of Sequoia in the Sierras of central California.

From giant sequoias to gushing waterfalls and with all of nature's critters, this is wildlife personified.

This is one heavenly place on earth.

MUSIC Our first stop will be at Boyden Caverns, just west of the park where the caves co-owner, Daniel Baker, is going to give me a private tour.

Let's go meet him.

How are you doing Daniel?

Good, Steve.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing great and I'm so happy here to be here.

A beautiful day to be here.

Especially out in the canyon.

It is a beautiful day.

And the Kings River, right by us.

And it's just majestic.

And I'm excited about going in here today.

Now, how long is this cave?

The whole cave goes all the way through the cliff.

That's 1000ft.

But we're not going to be doing that today.

We're going to do 750ft into the cave.

Okay?

Anything more than that, we'd be on our bellies, crawling like little snakes, trying to slither through there.

I'm excited.

Let's get after it.

Let's do it.

All right, let's start.

MUSIC This is beautiful Daniel!

Ha ha, you can't beat that river view.

MUSIC Well, we're here at the caves entrance, Boyden Caverns.

And this is a great entryway Daniel, I love it.

I mean, it looks almost like a beautiful cave jail cell.

And if I'm going to be incarcerated, I think I wanted to be here.

It's not a bad spot.

To be incarcerated is going to be 55 Fahrenheit in there so, it's a nice cool spot.

55?

55 all the time, all year.

You come here, there be snow outside, it will be 55 in there, It'll be a hundred degrees, still 55 inside the cave.

Well, I'm ready to learn all about its history and a whole lot more.

Excellent.

Let's get it.

MUSIC So as we're coming in the cave, you could look down in this crevice.

We have a seasonal creek that flows through it.

If you guys are feeling adventurous, you can walk down there on the way out.

Daniel, are these stalactites?

Yes, those are stalactites.

And are they still alive?

A lot of them are, yes.

So anywhere you can see dripping water in the cave that that's an actively growing formation.

Okay, now is this cave limestone or granite or what kind of rock?

Yeah, this cave is actually the host rock that we're in, is marble.

Marble?

Yes, and that is metamorphosed limestone.

So at one point it was limestone.

So after it was hollowed out from water, once it drained, that's when the cave formations such as stalactites started growing.

So is this where a stalactite has met a stalagmite?

Yes.

Stalactites come down reaching the stalagmites and they form columns.

Okay.

You can see it kind of looks like it's holding the whole cave up right there.

MUSIC Daniel, what is this?

It looks kind of like a slab of bacon.

That is called bacon, Steve.

Ha!

Look at that.

Ding ding ding!

What do I win?

You get a free slice of rock bacon.

We'll have it for you after the cave tour.

Well, thank you very much.

I like Canadian bacon.

Okay, so that's bacon.

And what is this?

Yeah, so that's bacon sometimes called a ribbon.

Okay.

And this one over here I'm just going to shine a light on it for a moment.

That is what we call a drapery.

A drapery, well it kind of looks like curtains a drapery.

Exactly.

That's how it gets its name.

It'll be the same in any cave you go to.

Daniel, is this more drapery here?

More drapery, more draperies.

And as you can see, there's more cave coral on it.

Popcorn rock.

Okay.

And if you look right here, there's actually it's an actively growing spot.

You see that's a much wider right there?

Uh huh.

That's nice fresh growth coming down, coming right down the edge.

You can kind of see how they form.

This formation over here, it looks like a fortress.

It looks like a fortress up top.

And then you've got like a big cliff.

Maybe it's my imagination, but that's neat.

No, that is reminiscent of a fortress.

However, we call that our wedding cake formation.

Okay.

Yeah, it looks like a wedding cake.

And that's another one of our columns.

When a stalactite and a stalagmite join together.

It's a nice area right here.

And this is also where we meet up with the bottom level of the cave.

You can see we're going to be walking in the dry creek bed.

Okay.

And there's no more handrails or sidewalks from here on out.

Okay.

I don't think I am stable enough.

All right.

Let's give it a shot.

LAUGHTER Here we go.

Wow.

I hit a cold pocket.

It's at least 55 or better.

Yeah.

It's nice.

Wow!

This is beautiful.

Yes, Steve.

This is what we call our Drapery room.

This is the Drapery, okay.

And I see all the drapes hanging.

See some drops coming down too, that activity growing part of the cave.

Oh, I can see them.

Yeah.

Watch your head through there, Steve.

Oh, I'm gonna.

I've already banged it once.

LAUGHTER I don't need to lose any more brain cells.

All right, Steve.

We kind of saved the best for last in this room.

This is our Christmas tree formation.

Whoa.

It is a Christmas tree.

It's a big old stalactite.

Oh, my gosh.

And it's even got, I mean, it's got the ornament up top basically.

Oh my gosh.

And it looks like it's got snow on a Christmas tree.

Yes, snow and the little draperies on there, it's got a little calcite crystal shining and it's actively growing if you look down there.

Oh no.

You didn't see carbonic acid.

Oh yeah.

Right here there's a drip.

And I love the sparkle to it.

Oh, this is just amazing.

Daniel, this is just another highlight in my life.

And you're responsible for it.

Well, I'm glad to hear that.

And I want to thank you.

Now when is Boyden Caverns, what months are you open annuall Typically May 1st through October 31st.

Somewhere in there.

Okay.

May to October.

Yeah.

It depends on the weather because they close the road up by Hume Lake.

Well, what a great career and what a wonderful cave.

And thank you so much for having me.

Of course, Steve.

Thanks for coming, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'm such a happy guy that you're an avid part of Walkin West now.

Yeah, awesome.

I'm glad to be part of it.

Thanks my friend.

You got it.

What a beautiful park Kings Canyon is.

We're on our Kings Canyon Scenic Byway right now, and scenic is an understatement.

We're headed to Grizzly Falls to meet our guide for today.

Well, I'm here at one of my favorite places in the world at Kings Canyon National Park, and I have enlisted the services of an All-Star guide by the name of Pani with mountain trekking adventures.

How are you doing, Pani?

I'm fantastic.

Happy to be here.

Well, I'm happy that you're here because there's so much I don't know about this park.

I mean, I even did a little homework on this park, but I need a pro.

Now you've lived here how many years?

My whole life.

Your whole life.

And, you've been a guide here for a long, long time, I understand.

Yeah, I've been doing it for, the last few years.

It's something that professionally I've done in the last few years, but it's something I've done my whole life.

Oh, well and I understand that you're going to take us on some trails today, and the first one is a very short hike to a very beautiful fall.

Yeah.

You're going to get the most bang for your buck here.

You just get right out of the car and out to the falls in no time flat.

Okay.

What's the name of this falls?

This is Grizzly Falls.

MUSIC Pani, these falls are amazing.

I mean, the way that water is cascading over there, I can only imagine how this must be like in early spring.

I mean, my gosh, because here we are in mid-summer, and it's still roaring like crazy.

Yeah, early spring is thundering off here.

It splits in every direction, but it's still got a nice flow right now.

And then the way it drizzles off that marble, I love it.

This is like a Hollywood movie set.

You couldn't beat it.

This is great.

Thanks for taking us here to Grizzly Falls.

My pleasure.

Happy to be here.

Our next stop, Roaring River falls.

And you know what?

I'm having a roaring good time.

Look at that river.

Whoa, Nelly.

And would you look at those falls?

And one word says it all.

Amazing!

Me and Pani are here on a Roaring River falls trail.

And, boy, you're taking me to all these wonderful falls.

And I'm a falls nut.

I love it, my friend.

Tell me real quickly about the wildlife here.

I see a lot of squirrels, I see chipmunks, I see all sorts of wildlife.

Deer.

But what else is here?

Well, we got big predators.

We have mountain lions, we have black bears, we have lots of bobcats.

And there some are kind of small and some get really big, the Bobcats here.

Okay.

Well, some of them I want to see and some of them I'll pass.

Well, some of them I want to see and some of them I'll pass.

Yeah.

This is great.

Let's get on to the falls.

Let's go!

MUSIC Well, there's a town in Oklahoma called Lottawada.

Well, guess what we got here in California?

LAUGHTER A whole lot of water, right?

We got a bunch of water here.

Oh, man this Roaring River Falls is incredible.

And this is just a tributary to the Kings.

Okay, well, it is roaring for sure.

What?

LAUGHTER I like this guy.

Come on.

LAUGHTER MUSIC You know what I like best about doing Walkin West?

The people I meet along the trail.

Because they all have that twinkle in their eye and a spark about them.

And this bunch, I'm telling you, they got that pizzazz.

What's your name?

My name is Dahlia.

Oh.

Beautiful name.

Where are you from?

I'm from originally from Israel.

But now living in Los Angeles.

Well, I'm glad you're here.

And what's your name?

My name is Sergio.

I'm, living in Los Angeles originally from Romania.

Romania, home of Bela Karolyi, the most famous gymnastics coach ever.

Absolutely.

Well, are you having fun here?

Absolutely.

Its a beautiful place.

that is wonderful.

That is wonderful.

And yours?

I'm Alex and I'm together with my lovely wife, coming from the Netherlands to visit my brother.

And they're hiking here, enjoying it very much.

And what do you love most about hiking?

Hiking?

Well, together with my lovely wife.

Oh, that'll ge you some points.

Enjoying the weather and nature.

LAUGHTER That's great.

And what's your name?

My name is Gabriela.

I'm from the Netherlands and I enjoy hiking with my husband and my travelling friends.

Oh, you better give him a big, old hug and tell him you love him.

Oh!

There you go.

Thank you so much.

Have a wonderful hike and thanks for being on Walkin West.

Thanks.

Boy, I love this park.

From the people you meet to the incredible scenery, the fresh air, the mountain streams.

I can't tell you how wonderful I feel.

Check out this suspension bridge.

Cool.

MUSIC Listen to that water.

Nature's lullaby.

That's what that is.

MUSIC If I get any more relaxed today, you're going to have to pick me up with a putty knife.

Nature wins every time.

Well, still here in Kings Canyon with my All-Star guide, Mr.

Pani.

You're putting up with pretty well today.

Yeah.

You're an easy guy to put up with.

Well, I appreciate that.

Tell my wife that LAUGHTER We're out here at Zumwalt The Zumwalt trail.

Now, who was this Zumwalt gentleman?

His name is Daniel Zumwalt.

And around the turn of the century, he worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Okay.

And he came up here and saw how beautiful this was and said, this needs to be preserved.

So he lobbied his own company, local politicians and businessmen, to save Kings Canyon.

And we thank you, Daniel Zumwalt, for your efforts to preserve and protect Kings Canyon, for all of us to enjoy.

MUSIC I'm here on the Zumwalt meadow trail, and we got a big tree.

Did we guys, Bob and Martin.

Right?

Right.

Yes.

And we thanks to some hikers like you, we saw a mama bear and her cubs.

We did.

And another bear on the other side of the meadow.

Wow!

And that's always a treat.

Now you got, oh man.

And a deer as well.

And a deer as well.

And you got to be respectful.

And I loved the way that people kind of... Mama was like maybe 100ft away from the cubs.

And the people on both sides of the trail were very responsible and respectful and just stopped cold and waited for them to move on.

That's right.

That's pretty darn cool.

We all stayed together and discussed the bears and what to do and what not to do, and so it all worked out.

Well, yeah and discussing things like if mama starts to run after you, you only have to outrun one girl.

Well, No, it's, it can be scary.

But the thing is, mom is taking care of those cubs, and we need to respect that.

And they did.

Everybody did.

Where are you guys from?

Berkeley, California.

Well, there, of course, you're not too far away from me.

No, but we air in your neck of the woods on Walkin West.

And we've seen you before.

You've seen me?

Yes.

And you're still talking to me?

Yes, absolutely.

LAUGHTER It was the pinnacles, as a matter of fact.

The pinnacles episode.

So that, and maybe another one too.

That was a fun episode.

It was.

And we have fun doing the show.

Yeah, we always enjoy them.

Well, we have fun because we meet hikers like you guys along the way.

And our mission is to hike respectfully, responsibly and leave it better for that next guy.

Yes, I want to thank you guys for being well, thank you.

And Walkin West.

Okay.

Have a great day and hike safe.

We will.

Go catch up with the bears okay?

LAUGHTER I'll carefully catch up.

These cubs are having a ball and Mama Bear is doing a great job looking after them.

The black bear is indigenous to this area.

They forage on berries, manzanitas, acorns, grasses, plants and insects, and please never feed a bear.

They're doing just fine.

And remember, when you see a bear, give them plenty of space.

This is their land, not ours.

Let's just watch this family having fun.

MUSIC Pani, you are one heck of a Kings Canyon guide, for sure.

You took us to the roaring River falls.

Hey, we're roaring for like crazy.

Then you took us to Zumwalt Meadows, where we saw a bear, and now we're here at Road's End, what is that all about?

Well, we're at the road's end, this is the farthest you can drive in Kings Canyon National Park.

Okay, we're here on this big old rock.

Yeah, this is a super special rock.

John Muir came here with politicians, local business leaders, other influential people, and he said, “We've got to preserve this place.

You guys don't mine here.

Don't chop down the trees.

Let's preserve it and keep it as pristine as possible.” I like that.

So is this the Muir Rock?

This is Muir Rock, we're standing right on it.

This big, beautiful piece of granite.

Well, cool and the kids are swimming and having a great time.

Is this a safe place to swim?

Well, as long as you have adult supervision and you're a decent swimmer.

Yeah, it's a perfect place to swim.

Well, there's a pretty good hole over there.

About ten feet deep.

Yeah, it's nice, and I wish I had my trunks.

Oh, come on, who needs trunks?

Oh, you don't want to see me without a shirt on buddy.

This is wonderful.

Out here at the John Muir Rock at Road's End Kings Canyon with Walkin West.

WATER SPLASHES WATER SPLASHES WATER SPLASHES Well, I'm here with two very nice young folks, and they're from North Carolina.

Abby and David, how are you guys doing?

Doing great.

How are you?

Oh, I'm doing terrific, and you?

Fantastic.

Are you having fun?

So much.

Oh, I bet you are.

So you live in North Carolina.

What town do you live in?

We live in Wilmington.

In Wilmington.

Well, I've been on that Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

Yeah?

Oh, Mount Mitchell and all that.

Beautiful.

But how do you like it out west?

We love it.

We come from the beach out to the mountains.

It's good taste of both.

Oh, my gosh, you can't do any better.

And the King's river.

Have you taken a dip yet?

We're just headed there now.

Oh my gosh.

We came here earlier and coming back for a dip.

It's the greenest of the green.

And you've got all these canyons and these peaks and did you see the bear earlier?

We did.

We did, “Cinnamon.” A mom with her kiddos.

Okay.

We saw two cubs, and then we saw another bear across the creek or across the river, and just all the wildlife and the flora, the fauna it's wonderful isn't it?

It's beautiful.

It's gorgeous.

And how much longer are you here?

Last night here in Kings Canyon.

Then we head up to Yosemite.

Then you're headed up to Yosemite.

That's a rough life, but somebody's got to live it.

Yeah, terrible.

Well, hike respectfully, responsibly and I know you're going to leave it better than you found it for the next guy, aren't you?

Of course.

Thanks so much for being on Walkin West.

Have a great day.

Thank you.

MUSIC I'm glad our guy Pani isn't a union guy or he would have left me quite a while ago.

But anyway, I'm so glad that we did this hike today.

But before we call it a day, I didn't ask you a whole lot.

These canyons are incredible.

And the depth of the canyons and the rock faces.

You were talking about plate tectonics and how the movement of the plate tectonics creates some of these ridges that we see that are just crazy.

Yeah, there's a lot of action going on here with the plates subducting and volcanic activity.

Ancient, you know, it happened millions of years ago.

But we see the effects from that.

How deep is this canyon in its deepest areas?

Well, it's over 6000ft deep, which is arguably the deepest canyons in North America.

Wow!

So it is deeper than the Grand Canyon?

Oh, it's deeper than the Grand Canyon, absolutely, yeah.

And we're here.

And not only did we have that, we had the beautiful stream, we had the Kings River, and we had bear.

We had deer and fawn.

We had turkeys.

We had, just, it's been a delightful experience.

And what I like about Kings Canyon, I mean, it's discovered, but it's not overpopulated.

Yeah, it's really special.

Other parks are just crowded this time of year.

But you come to Kings Canyon, you can find parking, you can go where you want without too much hustle bustle, and you can really enjoy the wildlife.

And you can also get a guy like Pani to be your guide for mountain trek and adventures.

And what a great job you did.

And all I can say is thank you.

Oh, thanks for joining me for an adventure.

I had a blast today.

We saw some incredible stuff and I'd love to go out again with you on another one.

Well, we're going to do it my friend.

All right.

You made a new buddy, whether you like it or not.

Can't wait.

Pani, thanks for being on Walkin West, my friend.

Thanks for having me.

Uh huh.

Well, we're into our third and final day here at beautiful Kings Canyon.

And now I'm about to go meet General Grant, the tree that is.

You know what?

I've never shook hands with a tree before.

Trees like the tree behind me are the main reason that I have become the tree hugger I am today.

Oh my gosh.

Here at Kings Canyon, we're in front of the General Grant tree, which is the second largest sequoia by volume in the world and width wise, down at its base.

It's the widest in the world at 40ft wide.

When you look at the sign there, it says The Nation's Christmas tree.

Well, there's kind of an interesting story about that.

This young girl, one day she was looking at the tree.

This has been over 100 years ago.

She was looking at the tree and she said, “That ought to be a Christmas tree.” That was overheard by a city councilman in a local city nearby.

Well, that city councilman thought that that was a pretty neat idea.

So he petitioned Calvin Coolidge, our president at the time, to name this the nation's Christmas tree.

MUSIC We're here at the trailhead of the Big Stump Trail.

It's a mile and a half loop, and we're going to hike it.

And I say big stumps, I'm talking about the mark Twain tree and some others that were cut down for the sole purpose of preservation and conservation.

We're going to learn a lot.

This is very educational.

The Big Stump Trail at Kings Canyon.

MUSIC At first look, this trail could a little bit depressing.

But you know what?

They went down for a good cause.

And I have to remember that I'm standing on top of a very famous tree stump.

I'm talking about the Mark Twain tree stump in 1891.

This 1341 year old tree, which is 16ft across, was chopped down by conservationists.

You say, why would anybody do that?

The world couldn't believe that there were sequoias or any tree that was this big in volume.

They thought it was a California hoax.

They had no idea they went, “No, there's no way a tree could be that big.” So what they did is they cut down the Mark Twain tree as a sacrificial lamb.

They put it in pieces, they sent it to the natural History Museum in New York City for all to see.

So I guess you could say Mark Twain took one for the team.

Kings Canyon is so many things.

It's not just the trees that make this place.

It's clear mountain streams, waterfalls flowing over moss covered rocks, wildlife galore.

MUSIC And my favorite thing?

Watching these cubs living large.

Well, gang, it's time to say goodbye.

After three tremendous days of hiking at beautiful Kings Canyon National Park.

And I just wish there were enough adjectives to say how I really feel tranquility, serenity, peacefulness, you name it.

It's all here.

All these trails from General Grant, from Zumwalt Meadow to Roaring Falls to Panoramic Point, you name it.

And so many of them are handicap friendly.

This place is incredible and you're going to love it.

And I want to thank the people who helped me along the way.

Samuel Broddus, what a great production assistant.

You did a great job.

Pani, my All-Star guide.

Oh my gosh, he's incredible.

And his wealth of knowledge is off the chart.

And of course, the finest cameraman on the planet.

I'm talking about my buddy, Mr.

Mark Brant.

It's been a wonderful time here at Kings Canyon, and I hope you'll come explore it, just like I did today right here on Walkin West.

SINGING - Well, I've been hiking Kings Canyon with all its gorgeous trails.

I don't go blazing fast for sure, but I did outrun a snail.

I had an All-Star guide with me who took me to Roaring Falls.

He even gave me a close up look at them big old canyon walls.

And as I say goodbye from the canyon I have one small request: that you get that fanny off of that couch and join me Walkin West.

Yeah, use it or lose it.

Get off of that couch.

Join me Walkin West.

That's all.

POP!

MUSIC Walkin West is sponsored by the Chicken Ranch Casino Resort in historic Jamestown, California, home to the great outdoors of the Mother Lode Chicken Ranch Casino Resort, owned by the Chicken Rancheria of Miwok Indians of California.

Walkin West is brought to you in part by Visit El Dorado, visit Tuolumne and visit Calaveras County visitors bureaus.

Discover the history of the gold rush, pristine mountain lakes and the waterfalls of Yosemite, all here in California's Gold Country.

Walkin West is brought to you by Ironstone Vineyards, home to a 44 pound gold leaf crystaline specimen, and where we've been producing red and white wines in the historic gold country since 1989.

Ironstone vineyards Murphy's, California.

Walkin West is brought to you by the Big Sur River Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, California.

The Big Sur River Inn, where you can hike and explore the rugged coastal trails of the West in a respectful, responsible way.

Big Sur River Inn.