Watch Wednesday, April 15, 2026 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2
This is the story of a national park. For centuries human beings have been visiting this inspirational place. In 1915 it was given the name, Rocky Mountain National Park. Native Americans came here for spiritual renewal. Mountain men came dreaming of furs and gold-they found something else. Dreams have been made, lost, and made again in this extraordinary landscape.
In 1867, English writer Isabella Bird arrived to live her dream while seeing the Wild West. She found more than she bargained for in the form of legendary mountain man, Rocky Mountain Jim, the personification of the untamed wilderness.
F.O. Stanley, the ingenious inventor of the Stanley Steam Car, arrived in 1907 dedicating his life, his dreams, and his wealth to a small community determined to protect and share a pristine, comforting, wild, and sometimes unforgiving environment.
A group of individuals pooled their passions and dreams with those of the great naturalist Enos Mills. They persevered through opposition and antagonism while transforming an economy of mining and ranching to an economy of preservation and conservation.
Legendary Everest climber Tom Hornbein and world-class climber, Tommy Caldwell share stories of Longs Peak and join others who pass on their legacies from this great National Park. Best defined through personal experience, Rocky Mountain National Park continues into the next 100 years-stimulating dreams from one generation to another.
Credits: Distributed by American Public Television
