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

This trailside hut was built in the late 1930s as a memorial to a young hiker.

The only remaining hotel on the 1860s Henness Pass route over the Sierra Nevada is being restored.

A little-known, but surprisingly large waterfall on the Little Truckee River in the northern Sierra Nevada.

A Native American petroglyph, the site of an emigrants' waystation, and the ruins of an early 20th-century sheep camp are all found at this crossroads.

This settlement on the original Transcontinental Railroad began by harvesting timber, but transitioned to a forgotten 19th-century industry: harvesting ice.

An early 20th-century fire lookout, still in intermittent use, preserves legacy fire-locating equipment.

A breathtaking 19th-century trail overlooks Lake Tahoe.

This historic estate on the east shore of Lake Tahoe was home to an eccentric millionaire (and his pet elephant, Mingo).

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

This eagle-topped spire remembers the military commander who snatched up California for the United States.

A tree grown from astronaut seeds which were exposed to cosmic rays.

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.

The oldest U.S. Government building in California, and it's State Historic Landmark #1.

The stately birthplace of California's statehood.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

This cabin from the 1850s is one of the first structures built by Chinese immigrants in California.

For almost 100 years, this site of peace and spirituality has existed on the California coast.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

A brothel nestled amongst ghost towns, with an abandoned plane wreck to greet you.

Twelve plaster figures inspired by da Vinci's famed painting haunt the desert landscape above a real-life ghost town.

A land of debatable treasure.

Potential high level nuclear waste storage site for the next 10,000 years and beyond.