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

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

Now a city park, this site started as a stage stop, then was a working ranch, and finally became a dude ranch that specialized in letting wannabe divorcees establish Nevada residency.

A private Las Vegas horse ranch adorned with whimsical artwork.

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

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

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

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

The "Fun Spot of the Desert" is now a haunting ruin, and a reminder that putting a water park in a desert is a bad idea.

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

A collection of anti-communist sculptures stands watch in the Mojave Desert.

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

The set location for a 1987 cult classic draws international film buffs to the middle of the Mojave Desert.

One of the ghostly stops along Route 66.

The ghost town that ended up on Ebay.

This dormant volcanic crater has been converted from a roiling pit of magma to a pleasant hiking spot.

A pair of large white marble lions guard this stretch of the Mojave Desert, and it is utterly mysterious how they got there.

An abandoned 1920s-era stretch of cabins now overshadowed by the 66 Motel.

A series of labyrinths in the Nevada desert inspire meditation and calmness.

A mining town once rife with murderous disputes over its copious treasures now creates income as a popular spot for photo shoots.

A Norwegian-born sculptor created these soaring guardian angels at the entrance to Hoover Dam.

These markers are used to document elevation changes around the famed dam.

Experience a charming 1930s version of "infotainment."

See Hoover Dam and the bypass bridge from a perspective usually off-limits to the public, and float the upper part of the Black Canyon National Water Trail.