The first life claimed by this record-breaking peak wasn't lost to exposure or a fall but rather lightning.

The hundreds of movies and television shows shot in this high desert town are commemorated in a unique museum.

This rock formation named for its unique shape is one of many that call the Alabama Hills home.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

A small research station sits at the summit of this mountain, which is one of the few U.S. peaks higher than 14,000 feet outside of the Sierra Nevada.

Once thought to be the oldest living tree in the world, Methuselah was germinated before the Egyptian pyramids were built.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

A natural dome made of volcanic glass in Inyo National Forest.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

Three plaques mark the spot where the "forgotten father of broadcasting" worked.

A lonely monument to the original Silicon Valley tech campus.

A pair of pure white felines guard the entrance to a spot of California real estate established as an artist's haven.

Home to the "Circus" trees created by Axel Erlandson.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

Centuries of crashing waves carved out this small hole in the rock, which lights up at certain parts of the year.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

The oldest lighthouse on America's west coast no longer needs keepers, yet they maintain the site anyhow.

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

One of the most elaborate displays of Jellyfish is on display at the aquarium.

Steinbeck's old stomping grounds, immortalized in Cannery Row.

Fake rail crossings mark the site of an influential doctor's demise.

An old whaling station now serves to give the public a look at the commercial whaling industry, no longer a part of Monterey's economy.

The first safe in this California town had to hold all the gold.