JavaScript must be enabled

Page will not work without JavaScript enabled

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.

Watch Video Wishlist

Start

Enroll with Confidence

We want your Road Scholar learning adventure to be something to look forward to—not worry about. Learn more

Protecting the Environment

We offset a portion of the emissions created by your travel. Learn more

9 days

8 nights

22 meals

8B 8L 6D

Check-in, Registration, Orientation, Welcome Dinner

Sierra Nevada Mountains - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park

Sequoia National Park, General Sherman Tree

Sierra Nevada Mountains - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park

Kings Canyon National Park, Roaring Falls, Zumwalt Meadows

Sierra Nevada Mountains - Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park

Tunnel View, Yosemite Valley

Sierra Nevada Mountains - Yosemite National Park

Full-Day Yosemite National Park

Sierra Nevada Mountains - Yosemite National Park

Tioga Pass, Mono Basin, Museum of Western Film History

Sierra Nevada Mountains - Owens Valley

Manzanar Historic Site, Alabama Hills

Owens Valley - Death Valley National Park

Death Valley National Park, Death Valley Visitor Center

Owens Valley - Death Valley National Park

Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Program Concludes

Las Vegas, NV

View Full Itinerary

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. Death Valley can reach temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Best of all, you’ll…

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.
Explore the forbidding, dramatic, beautiful Death Valley and learn about the unique geology of the landscape.

General Notes

Includes long bus rides to reach rural site. Bus times can range from 3 to 4 hours each day. Spring dates may be affected by seasonal road closures.

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.

Jeff Crow View biography

Jeff Crow is a naturalist in the tradition of John Muir, rambling around the wilds of California for decades. He has spent much time in the distinct ecosystems of the state (from marine to mountains), bringing a perspective that incorporates a wide range of environments. He was trained in English at UC Santa Barbara and uses his knowledge to put his students on pilgrimages to exotic lands outside their doors, best told through a lens of classical science, modern science, indigenous cultures, philosophy and observation.

Frank Helling View biography

Dawn Spare View biography

Dawn Spare is an avid traveler with a deep love of nature, history, and culture who enjoys both the city and country life. She earned her BFA magna cum laude from the University of California, Irvine, and attended graduate school at Temple and the University of Wisconsin. She lives on California’s Central Coast underneath pine trees at the beach, where she walks in nature daily. She belongs to a book club and has sung for over 20 years with the award-winning Vocal Arts Ensemble.

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.

Barrie Simpson View biography

After a long career in the technology, pharmaceutical, and hospitality industries, Barrie Simpson became a Road Scholar group leader. She was raised in New England; following high school, she made her way to Oregon, where she planted trees all over the West before going on to earn a degree in environmental engineering. Currently living in San Francisco, she is a historical group leader for SF City Guides, a waterbird docent on Alcatraz, and a long time member leader of the American Society of Quality (ASQ).

Amy Bowen View biography

Amy Bowen was raised in northern New Jersey and currently lives in Sonoma County, California. Amy holds a bachelor’s degree from New York University as well as a teaching credential from Sonoma State, and her prior careers include commercial lending and teaching high school. Amy enjoys leading groups throughout California and the Pacific Northwest. Past and current adventures include San Francisco and Yosemite, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Glacier National Parks. In between programs, she spends time with family, often planning personal adventures.

Scott Reinhardt View biography

Scott Reinhardt, after a childhood of tromping around the forest, received a bachelor’s of science degree for biology with related minor concentrations from UConn. He then spent six years working with black bears in Connecticut. Moving to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in 2014, Scott has since divided his time between working with black bears for the parks and providing hikes, explorations, and outdoor education. Recently, he has become a published photographer who has been featured in Sequoia Parks Conservancy's KNP Complex Fire Report.

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.

Search for a Title

Four Jewels: Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite & Death Valley

Program Number: 4352

Men to Match My Mountains

by Irving Stone

An engaging history of the West

John Muir, Son of the Wilderness

by Linnie Marsh Wolfe

Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the great naturalist, John Muir

Cadillac Desert

by Marc Reisner

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.

Mountains of California

by John Muir

Enjoy these lyrical 1894 vignettes by John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.

Basin and Range

by John McPhee

This is a complex but fascinating explanation of basin-range geology.

Sierra Nevada Natural History

by David Lukas, Tracy I. Storer, Robert L. Usinger

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

by William L. Kahrl

The author covers the politics, personalities, construction, opposition, and events leading up to the present situation in the Owens Valley.

Land of Little Rain

by Mary Austin

This is a 1904 classic about the Eastern Sierra.

The Yosemite Grant 1864-1906: A Pictorial History

by Hank Johnston

A comprehensive, well-illustrated history of the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Big Trees.

Farewell to Manzanar

by Jeanne Wakatsuki

This is a moving account of a family interned in Manzanar during WW II.

Geology Underfoot in Yosemite National Park

by Allen F. Glazner and Greg M. Stock

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

by Robert P. Sharp

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.

Start Enrolling

Four Jewels: Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite & Death Valley

Enroll with Confidence

Protecting the Environment

At a Glance

Best of all, you’ll…

General Notes

Recommended For You