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

Smooth basaltic rocks tell a tale of ancient glacial waterfalls.

Gorgeous purple flowers drape from the world's largest blossoming plant.

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

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

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.

A ruined hotel with an unlucky history and an eerie present.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

From Japan to Italy, this California park explores the world's cultures through their gardens.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

Gold Rush-era tombstones line the park's paths.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

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

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

Acres of natural wonders left behind by a socialite-turned-gardener.

World War II-era Nazi compound nestled in the Santa Monica hills.

The quiet canyon has a tumultuous history involving a doomsday cult.

The ghost town that ended up on Ebay.

A volcanic tunnel illuminated by natural skylights offers a shaded respite from the desert sun.

This ancient structure was built by a mysterious civilization that was largely destroyed by a volcanic eruption.