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

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

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

"Only the devil could play golf here."

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

A mountain range on an active U.S. Navy base hides thousands of mysterious prehistoric rock carvings.

Smooth basaltic rocks tell a tale of ancient glacial waterfalls.

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 largest dune field in the Mojave offers a chance of hearing the 'singing sands.'

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

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

In the middle of the desert, miles from any human life, sat an anomalous pay phone that still magically answers your calls.

No one’s quite sure why there's a metal megaphone bolted on two rocks in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

This large pile of traveler-curated rocks by the dry lakebed is a longstanding tradition on the Old Mojave Road.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

Finally the worlds of UFO enthusiasts and beef jerky lovers have come together in this roadside shop.

Where NASA's satellites and rovers phone home.

Thousands of turbines whir at the origin of North American wind power.

The "3rd largest" city in California is an empty mirage of suburbia in the middle of nowhere.

Everything you always wanted to know about borates is here.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.