A plaque and memorabilia collection mark where A&W got its start.

The longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi River.

The first lookout in Yosemite.

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

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

The echoes of a railroad town that solemnly mark the end of the line.

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

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

A massive hydrovolcanic explosion left a half-mile wide crater in Death Valley.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

This magnificent, quirky home sits atop a literal gold mine in the middle of the Nevada desert.

A lawless town deep in Death Valley was famous for its riches and death rate.

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

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

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

"Only the devil could play golf here."

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.

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

Water of undetermined depth has attracted rare fish and cult leaders alike.

This crumbling Death Valley mining complex was known for its use of giant, 20-mule team wagons.