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A 171-foot-tall white stain, left by the retreating waters of Lake Powell, looms over a lone human as he strides across a sandstone fin in the heart of Glen Canyon.
dams

The Return of Glen Canyon

As Lake Powell's water levels continue to drop, a stunning landscape resurfaces—along with questions about the future of the Colorado River and those who depend on it.
Craig Childs March 6, 2023
railroads

The Mail Rail Below London

Beneath the streets of London, there’s a secret subway for snail mail.
The Podcast Team October 4, 2025
Lake Powell, Utah

Cathedral in the Desert

The damming of the Colorado River buried an iconic geologic formation before record-breaking drought brought it back.
Mogollon, New Mexico

Catwalk Recreation Area

Explore a misty river canyon from a metal bridge system.
Permanently Closed
Electric lights illuminate the path
Luang Prabang, Laos

Bamboo Bridges of Luang Prabang

These bamboo and rope bridges cross the Nam Khan River for six months every year.
Pathway through St Magnus
London, England

Remains of the Old London Bridge

Only a few pieces remain of the structure that carried people and goods across the Thames for some 600 years.
Us surface dwellers don't usually have to think about what lurks below—even when we're responsible for it.
sewers

Descend Into the Sewers With London’s Fatberg-Busters

What can we learn from wipes, oils, and fats when they overwhelm the arteries of the modern world?
Jessica Leigh Hester November 3, 2022
Las Coloradas Bridge
Las Coloradas, Mexico

Las Coloradas Bridge

This small, yet notable, cable-stayed bridge was built to support tourism to a series of internet-famous pink lakes.
An <em>aling-aling</em> is a half-wall opposite a gate that can keep spirits at bay.
architecture

How Homes in Bali Are Designed for Harmony—and to Keep Demons at Bay

All the subtle ways traditional dwellings offer spiritual security.
Ronan O'Connell October 6, 2022
Bishtazhin, Kosovo

Ura e Terzive

This 15th-century Ottoman bridge was modified to keep up with the changing course of the river Erenik.
Parma, Italy

Gallery delle Fontane

A completely underground tour following the path of the most precious element: water.
The still-operating Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado is part of one of America's longest-lived narrow gauge networks.
railroads

The Historians Saving America’s Pint-Sized Railroads

From Maine to Alaska, narrow gauge is all the rage, including one of the most historic, Pennsylvania’s East Broad Top.
Justin Franz June 21, 2022
Pittsburgh has more public staircases than any other American city, a throwback to the Rust Belt town's industrial heyday.
infrastructure

Meet the Woman Who Climbed Every One of Pittsburgh's 739 Public Staircases

To explore her adopted hometown, Laura Zurowski took things step by step on the hilly city's historic routes.
Rossilynne Skena Culgan June 21, 2022
The Cincinnati Subway.
subterranean

Podcast: The Cincinnati Subway

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team June 14, 2022
infrastructure

Podcast: Monongahela Incline

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team May 18, 2022
abandoned

Podcast: Ford’s Folly

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.
The Podcast Team March 17, 2022
Pickering Pedestrian Bridge
Pickering, Ontario

Pickering Pedestrian Bridge

The longest enclosed pedestrian bridge in the world spans 14 lanes of traffic and six rail tracks, all while lighting up the night sky.
A portion of the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad, photographed by the U.S. government after 1968.
maps

Mapping the Ghostly Traces of Abandoned Railroads

An interactive, crowdsourced atlas plots vanished transit routes.
Jessica Leigh Hester October 14, 2021