Places Lost Leopards Wants to Go

Once the "Eighth Wonder of the World," this iron railroad bridge was decimated by a tornado.

The only place in America where anyone who wants can shovel coal aboard an antique train.

A half-mile long and three stories high, this bridge over the Des Moines River Valley mimics a descent into a mine shaft.

An obelisk commemorating Lincoln's role in connecting the coasts.

The remains of a deserted steamboat sit rusting beside an old ferry pier and an abandoned train platform.

Its unique collection details the history of the state's svelte railroads.

A throwback train ride transports passengers through one of the lesser-known national parks in the country.

One of the few working locomotive roundhouses in the United States.

This massive railroad spike celebrates the 1939 premiere of the movie “Union Pacific.”

A simple statue outside a California Amtrak station honors the overlooked contributions of the "silent spikes."

An old railroad grade built for the construction of Hoover Dam is now a recreational trail featuring several tunnels and sweeping views of Lake Mead.

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

In one of the hottest parts of the Mojave Desert, shallow bedrock forces the typically dry Mojave River to the surface in this canyon, providing a vital oasis for humans and wildlife.

The first railway tunnel to cross the Continental Divide and, at 11,523 feet, was once the highest railroad tunnel in the world.

At the largest railway museum in the United States, you can see everything from an early steam engine to a functioning Thomas the Tank Engine.

The second largest waterfall by volume in the U.S., Willamette Falls is outdone only by Niagara in the amount of water that is pushed northward.

The oldest restaurant in Portland serves fiery coffee cocktails and an astounding amount of turkey.

This beautiful landscape is the only Sichuan-style garden outside of China.

Thousand-year-old trees tower within one of the world's only inland temperate rainforests.

Clean, cold drinking water flows from a nondescript pipe in a roadside rock face.

The ruins of a town wiped out by the second-largest earthquake in recorded history.

The picturesque remains of an abandoned silver mine slope down to Tagish Lake in the Yukon.

Home to vintage vehicles and local artifacts, this museum also houses a rare taxidermy specimen.

The easternmost town in Alaska can only be accessed from Canada.