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

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

This desert oddity hides in plain sight thanks to a cartographic error and a desert explorer with a punny sense of humor.

While exploring the desert, you can stop by the home of a fictional heretic from a parallel universe.

The quirky salon doubles as a retro museum run by the world's leading "hairstorian."

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

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

The largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'

The Route 66 institution that inspired Taco Bell also served as an important headquarters for Mexican-American social movements.

This dormant volcanic crater has been converted from a roiling pit of magma to a pleasant hiking spot.

The most isolated mailbox in America lets desert travelers record their passing.

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

In the middle of the desert, miles from any human life, sat an anomalous pay phone that still magically answers your calls.

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

This magnificent mausoleum is as much a work of art as it is a historic resting place.

The cobbled together compound of a deceased artist which now serves as a filming location.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

A strange mishmash of ruins and abandoned structures hint at the park's many lives.

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

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.

This historic California cemetery holds the bodies of veterans of both the Civil War and the Donner Party.

Erroneously called the world's tallest flagpole, this landmark is devoted to "good neighborliness."

At this deceptively beautiful beach, nothing is what it seems.

A glittering South Asian anomaly in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb.