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

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

The location of the last stand of Charles Manson's doomsday cult.

A world-class observatory in the California desert.

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

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.

A regular looking rock with an unbelievable history.

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

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

World's oldest operating science fiction and fantasy club, once home to Ray Bradbury and L. Ron Hubbard.

The site of murders and Satanic cult gatherings.

Abandoned bridge hidden deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.

An unfortunate geological resemblance to Satan has labeled this Pasadena gorge as a passage to the underworld.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

Eons old volcanic activity created one of the most stunning rock formations in the United States.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Large tower used for simulating radiation of Hiroshima bomb and the tallest object ever relocated.

Thousands of acres of beautiful wild landscape in the Great Basin.

The contents of this safe survived a 37-kiloton nuclear bomb.

A picture-perfect town, perfect for blowing up.

A hidden gem of a saloon in the middle of a ghost town.

This famous Nevada gold mine, once a hotbed of Wild West shenanigans, is now open for tours.