In a small Japanese garden off a busy Denver street, a memorial to a brave, principled politician.

A technicolor place of worship for Elevationists.

Wee (and not so wee) footprints that insects and reptiles of the Paleozoic Era left behind.

A breathtaking array of ancient Pueblo structures and artifacts counterintuitively preserved by neglect.

A serene garden path lined with 36 haiku stamped into clay stones.

Giant origami sculptures tucked into desert scenery beckon passers-by to explore further.

A ghost town revived by hippies and wanderers throws its own special brand of holiday parade.

If drivers cross the rumble strip on this stretch of Route 66 at just the right speed it plays "America the Beautiful."

When life gave this firefighter a forest fire, he made a rough-hewn sculpture park using a chainsaw.

A Saint Nicholas-themed ghost town in the Mojave desert.

An abandoned facility that has become a place of ritualistic satanic worship, or so rumor has it.

A self-built castle made by a mysterious man.

This striking public art installation is suspended above a public park, designed to gently move in the breeze.

The installation’s official name, “You Who Are Getting Obliterated in the Dancing Swarm of Fireflies,” says it all.

This secluded aqua waterfall in the Grand Canyon is the perfect swimming hole, and the Havasupai tribe's fiercely protected natural wonder.

The largest self-built castle in the U.S., six decades in the making.

Rippling sand dunes frozen in the Arizona rock.

Ninety feet off the valley floor is an ancient dwelling put under protection of the U.S. government by Teddy Roosevelt.

A half-acre utopia in the New Mexico desert features a graveyard, a game of horseshoes, a library, and a mailbox.

Recycling meets art in this colorful barricade.

These ruins of a pre-Columbian cliff village are among the most beautiful and well preserved in New Mexico.

When ecosystems collide in the arid Southwest.

Possibly the world's only drive-in movie theater with an attached motel.

Gleaming self-built castle towers made from beer cans and inspired by "Vitamin Mary Jane."