A deep toxic lake fills this abandoned open-pit copper mine, now a Superfund site.

Once a staging site for World War II munitions.

This tiny cluster of abandoned buildings looks like the future of the ghost town - today!

In the middle of a remote desert town is a surprisingly opulent hotel.

An errant donkey ushered in a new era of mining in Nevada.

Oh, just a motel on the edge of the desert decorated with thousands of clowns conveniently located next to an abandoned graveyard.

There's nothing creepier than a cemetery next to a clown motel.

This colossal underground passage paved the way for large-scale drainage and access tunnels across the U.S., but it almost wasn’t built.

The smallest country in the world.

The ruins of a military outpost from the 1860s form the centerpiece of a Nevada state park.

The first project by the Bureau of Reclamation illustrates both the upsides and downsides of reclamation.

Two craters, which probably erupted within the last 1,500 years and are now filled by alkaline lakes, represent Nevada's youngest known volcanic activity.

This cave was hidden for thousands of years, storing the worldly goods of ancient Native Americans.

Red ocher pictographs survive in this tufa rock shelter on the shore of an ancient lake.

A spectacular but little-known slot canyon in extreme northern Nevada, with sheer walls nearly 500 feet high and a perennial stream.

Mine your own precious stones.

One of the largest wildlife refuges in the contiguous 48 states, it was instrumental in preserving the pronghorn antelope from extinction.

An internationally-recognized dark sky sanctuary lies in northern Nevada, near the Oregon line.

A remote trail traverses the little-known Gearhart Mountains of southern Oregon.

Oregon's only closed-basin hypersaline lake, an important stopover for migrating waterfowl, is in danger of drying up completely.

Along the Outback Scenic Byway, adjacent to hot springs, this human-made geothermal feature takes unexplained breaks.

Each winter this underground cave forms a dazzling ice palace.

Trails through lava-carved tube-caves display sparkling bacteria and a rich history.

Rising out of miles of farmland, these buttes are sometimes called the world's smallest mountain range.