In the middle of an extremely unforgiving and desolate high desert is the most secret military facility in the world.

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

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

Graffiti, cars, and religion combine to create this jungle of scrap in the Nevada desert.

Burping, gurgling geothermal mud pots by the Salton Sea.

The sea once considered an ecological wasteland is now called "crown jewel of avian biodiversity" by scientists.

Huge otherworldly domed rocks on the shore of a deadly lake.

This vintage animatronics show is the Vegas version of a walk through the woods.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

This former lieutenant governor's home is brimming with curiosities.

The best Tiki bar in Las Vegas.

Dyed by iron oxide over centuries, these sandstone rocks rise thousands of feet into the sky.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

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

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

A hard-to-reach oasis in a desolate corner of Death Valley National Park.

Travelers leave tea kettles in a remote part of Death Valley as part of a mysterious, decades-old tradition.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

These millipedes glow not out of attraction, but as a not-too-subtle warning.

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

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

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

This sculpture garden in Death Valley makes you feel like you've slipped into some alternate reality.