A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

The "3rd largest" city in California is an empty mirage of suburbia in the middle of nowhere.

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

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

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

The highest dunes in California are the most likely place in the area to hear the Singing Sands.

A chain of bells connect the California Missions and honor the legend of the "King’s Highway."

This Nevada lake holds its titular natural pyramid and, if the legends are true, a number of dangerous spirits.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

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

A massive volcanic plug is now a protected area that hosts a number of bird species.

Once thought to be the oldest living tree in the world, Methuselah was germinated before the Egyptian pyramids were built.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.

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

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.