Millions of people have marveled at the view of Bridalveil Fall since John Muir first spotted it from a mile away when he entered Yosemite Valley in the spring of 1868. Not nearly as many see the "dainty little fall'' quite the way Muir did.

Now, a Santa Cruz, Calif., couple are hoping to restore some popularity to one of the classic early views of Yosemite, reopening a 19th-century door on what Muir came to regard as a holy vista — the "sanctum sanctorum of the Sierra.''

Donna and Peter Thomas, a husband-and-wife team of artists who spend most of their time producing hand-bound fine-press books, have rewalked a long-forgotten trail from San Francisco to Yosemite that Muir took, also mostly on foot, for his first Sierra visit in 1868.