Improbably, the largest wildlife refuge in the conterminous 48 states sits just northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada.

A land of debatable treasure.

Pleistocene megafauna fossils are the subject of Nevada's newest state park at the northern edge of the Las Vegas metropolitan area.

This sign designates the road that leads to the infamous Area 51.

This arid landscape was once a lush wetland. Today, it's a paleontological site filled with fossilized mammoths, sabertooth cats, and more.

A homage to the King at the hotel where he revived his career.

Mysterious meeting place for UFO hunters near Area 51.

Officially named the "Loneliest Road in America," this barren stretch of Nevada road offers almost nothing but sky and open fields.

An eatery for UFO seekers on the Extraterrestrial Highway.

“Live hard, ride fast, eat pizza” at this joint filled with Evel Knievel memorabilia.

A gothic palace of endless stalagmites and pseudoscorpions waits within one of the world's most beautiful caves.

The drama of nature in full effect in this Nevada State Park.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.

In the middle of an extremely unforgiving and desolate high desert is the most secret military facility in the world.

Dyed by iron oxide over centuries, these sandstone rocks rise thousands of feet into the sky.

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.

From this scenic rockface, you can still see the paths Western pioneers followed.

Meet cowboys and ancient beardogs at this one-of-a-kind crossroads of Western history.

This was the first homestead registered after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.

This erect, phallic geological spire wasn't always named so domestically.

This remote Montana battlefield is the site of the Nez Perce Flight of 1877.

A memorial to the most decisive Native American victory of the Plains Indian War.

Spectacular views await visitors to this lake.

The last physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark trail is one of their autographs etched into this giant rock.