The haunting ruins of Jack London's dream house.

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.

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

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

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

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.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

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 fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

A giant donut stands as a popular symbol of Los Angeles iconography.

One of the most unusual geological features, recognizable from a dozen hit movies.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

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

A regular looking rock with an unbelievable history.

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

The abandoned personal amusement park of the King of Pop.

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

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.

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

The ghost town that ended up on Ebay.

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