Places Calmmseas Wants to Go

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

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

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

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

The overgrown ruins of a once thriving World War I-era copper mine.

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

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.

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 grove of "candelabra redwoods" deep in California's Lost Coast.

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

This stunning sea creature-shaped home blends into the landscape like a fantasy villa.

The largest drain hole in the world.

A couple turned their front yard into an artistic masterpiece.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

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

Abandoned bridge hidden deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

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

One of the last free public hot springs is decorated with hippie art.

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

The site of murders and Satanic cult gatherings.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

A Swedenborgian glass church surrounded by redwoods sits perched atop a massive landslide area.