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

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

This impressive tunnel was dug entirely by hand over the course of 36 years.

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

Two rocks in a perpetual kiss and one of "the most romantic spot in America."

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.

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

Home to the "Circus" trees created by Axel Erlandson.

The abandoned train depot now doubles as a well-placed rest stop for those who take the road less traveled.

A house built from trash known as the poor man's Hearst Castle.

A fake town founded by Western movie stars is now becoming a hip desert community.

This Pringle-shaped ledge makes for the perfect photo op.

“It's the quality” (but probably also the drive-through donut tunnel) that has attracted diners since 1968.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

A pair of large white marble lions guard this stretch of the Mojave Desert, and it is utterly mysterious how they got there.

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

A crumbling wizard is one of the final reminders of a roadside Middle Earth.

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.

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

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

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

A grove of "candelabra redwoods" deep in California's Lost Coast.