Plot Synopsis

AMERICA. THE BEAUTIFUL is a half-hour series that rides along with daredevils, adventurers and experts as they explore the United States on their once-in-a-lifetime events, providing a view of America like never before. Each 30-minute episode features three different adventurers, including: hang glider pilots Chris Bolfing and John Heiney, who launch themselves off Glacier Point and glide over Yosemite Valley during a wildfire; marine biologist Alana Osaki, who takes a memorable dive through a Channel Island kelp forest; an arborist who scales to the very top of a towering redwood; professional slackliners Faith Dickey and Andy Lewis, who walk across a two-inch-wide highline that's 400 feet above the floor of Mineral Canyon; 73-year-old rancher Heidi Redd, who fights to preserve her historic cattle ranch just outside Canyonlands National Park; descendants of an ancient civilization, who restore the ruins of an irreplaceable American artifact; photographer Ian Ruhter, who attempts to capture iconic images of Monument Valley using a camera that he built from a truck; Becky Standridge, who takes to the sky in an ultralight above the banks of the Salt River to document and protect one of the last known herds of wild horses; mountain biker Lars Romig, part of the Verde Valley Cyclists Coalition, who weaves through the sharp turns of the Hangover Trail with a friend before challenging themselves to run one of the steepest drops in the area -- Sick Rock; Jason Siska, Jane Conrad, and a young local boy named Craig, who snorkel around the undisturbed paradise of Hurricane Hole that showcases colorful corals growing on the roots of mangrove trees and a variety of sea life; cave explorer Rossano Boscarino, who enters Angeles Cave in Northwestern Puerto Rico with his crew to clear a log jam so he can take his tour through new areas; researcher Mark Martin, who studies the mystery behind one of the world's brightest bioluminescent bays near the island of Vieques; and many more people who take viewers along on their adventures across America.
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On Sunday, August 30, 2015 from 7-8pm ET/PT, Travel Channel premiered the season finale of AMERICA. THE BEAUTIFUL, showing back-to-back new episodes. In the night's first new episode (7pm), "Columbia River Gorge," kayakers Rush Sturges and Evan Garcia ride treacherous whitewater rapids and waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge, explorers enter Mt. Hood's mysterious caves, and Bill Anders voyages to the natural wonder of Crater Lake. Then, in the finale (7:30pm), "Florida Keys," extreme cave divers venture deep into the dark abyss of Jackson Blue cave, a maritime archaeologist dives to a historic Civil War shipwreck, and a burn boss uses raging wildfires to preserve Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.