A massive hydrovolcanic explosion left a half-mile wide crater in Death Valley.

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

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

This little valley along Highway 1 is engulfed by thousands of lilies during the spring season.

Hike amid the palm trees that thrive among Southern California's Indio Hills.

A stranded woman lived alone on this remote island for 18 years, inspiring the great children's novel "Island of the Blue Dolphins."

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

Guns that have been defending San Francisco since 1904.

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

Elephant seals and sea lions have turned the abandoned buildings on this island into their endangered love shack.

These four islands right offshore have waterfalls, colorful lights, fancy buildings, and a secret purpose.

Burping, gurgling geothermal mud pots by the Salton Sea.

Once the gateway to the utopian dream-village of a Civil War embalmer.

This sun-scorched lakebed contains samples of half the natural elements known to humankind.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

Remains of a Greek freighter trapped off of Rocky Point in 1961.

Huge otherworldly domed rocks on the shore of a deadly lake.

A "haunted" landmark on the coast of Southern California.

The show's fictional Korean medical camp was created in the Santa Monica hills.

This abandoned boat was left in place thanks to its rotting beauty.

Semi-recognized center of the world, with many oddities.

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.