Legends surround this jagged rock formation in the New Mexico desert.

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

This "dead marsh" sits among the largest sand dunes in the world, a forest frozen in time.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

Explore the largest pure gypsum deposit in the world, and go dune sledding while you're at it.

Nuclear waste dump site now an environmental sanctuary.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

Get lost in this haunting fairytale art walk through a man-made eucalyptus grove.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

The old Niles Canyon Aqueduct in the San Francisco Bay Area is a bemusing and secret trail through nature for wayward travelers.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

This mountaintop beacon is only lit three times a year but shines like some kind of all-seeing eye.

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.

See massive fossils that are over 200 million years old in northeastern Arizona.

Canyon walls shrouded in ferns.

A lighthouse built to save lives that took quite a few with its treacherous location.

Despite a legend that says this highest peak in Oregon was climbed in high heels scores of people have died on its slopes.

Oregon's unexpected high desert, displaying layers of time in a colorful show.

Seemingly grown on some other world, these New Mexico rock formations look like a disused science fiction set.