Wild West: America's Great Frontier

The second part of this landmark series takes viewers on another adventure across America's iconic Wild West, up to the mountainous High Country, to uncover a hardy breed of wildlife that embody a pioneering spirit found nowhere else on earth. From the Rockies to the Sierra Nevada, survival demands endurance and know-how.

James Norton narrates us through the story of a land home to grizzly bears, extreme kayakers, tough ranchers and the world's biggest trees. Through frigid winters and scorching summers, to survive they must battle all that the seasons throw at them.

In the spirit of the old gold rush towns, today the animals, plants and people here must grasp what opportunities they have. In California's Sierra Nevada, ranchers must seize the chance to get their cattle to the mountains by embarking a challenging 70-mile trek. Bristlecone pines, the oldest living organisms on earth, thrive on the mountain slopes but have a limited growing season and may have only increased by six inches in girth since Columbus discovered the continent over 600 years ago.

From parasitic plants to thieving black bears, tenacious pikas and battling bison, it's in the High Country that the west gets really wild.