A water tower shaped like a giant coffee pot looms over a small Swedish village in Central California.

This hidden fire lookout offers spectacular views of Sequoia National Park.

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

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 glimpse into the lives of the the Miwok and Paiute people in Yosemite National Park.

Hidden beneath a lake for decades, this brutalist mine has now emerged from beneath the receding waters.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

Where the writer penned his famous story about a jumping frog.

One woman's Viking Castle on Lake Tahoe.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

Despite being a perfectly pleasant place to be, Loyalton can't seem to attract any visitors.

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

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

Its dark depths conceal millions of rare, delicate crystal formations.

This former boomtown "island" is now submerged below Folsom Lake.

This diner's a kitschy dreamland for anyone whose heart is stuck in the 1980s.

The last of a gourmet supermarket chain, this store helped spark California's Food Revolution.

The only standing town in the United States that early Chinese Americans built for themselves.

A sparse, solitary sequoia still stands as a living tribute to the famous conservationist who planted it—but it's dying.

Thousands of crosses and markers for soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan blanket a California hillside.

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

A private home built to resemble the shape of a microscopic creature.

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.