Built by one man in the '20s, this site is now a museum representing the Great Basin cultures.

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

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

A glimpse into the lives of the the Miwok and Paiute people in Yosemite National Park.

A remote crossroads honoring a fallen talent.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

A mysterious and endangered parasitic herb from the California desert.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

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

Chewing gum tycoon's memorial lies perched over wife's botanical gardens on Santa Catalina Island.

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

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

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

This former stomping grounds of the most eminent astronomers of the early 20th century.

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

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

A ring of creosote bushes that are estimated to be 11,700 years old.

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

Oldest building in California still in use.

Decommissioned experimental solar facilities that pioneered solar energy technology.

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

NASA's leading space science lab started by a co-founder with deep ties to the occult.

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

This old mining town, deep in the California desert, has a year-round population of one.