If you’re looking for a road trip that feels like driving through another planet, this is it.
Welcome to Death Valley and Eastern California, where the landscapes are bigger, weirder, and more extreme than anywhere else in the country.
One minute, you’re standing in the lowest, hottest place in North America.
The next, you’re hiking through rainbow-colored mountains, exploring a creepy ghost town, or soaking in a desert hot spring under the stars.
This isn’t your average highway cruise—it’s a trip filled with wild rock formations, ancient forests, abandoned towns, and places so strange they barely feel real.
1. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes
Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park look like something straight out of a movie—literally, because they were used as the backdrop for Star Wars!
Located near Stovepipe Wells, these golden dunes stretch for miles, with rippled sand, towering 100-foot peaks, and scattered mesquite trees that somehow survive the scorching heat.
Whether you’re racing up the soft slopes, sandboarding down, or just snapping epic sunset photos, this is one of the most surreal stops on any road trip.
2. Zabriskie Point
For a completely different kind of desert magic, head to Zabriskie Point, one of the most jaw-dropping overlooks in Death Valley.
Instead of rolling sand dunes, you’ll see a wild maze of golden badlands, shaped by erosion into sharp ridges and deep canyons that seem to stretch on forever.
Sunrise is pure magic here—the soft light turns the hills pink, orange, and gold, making it look like another planet.
3. Badwater Basin
If you’re ready to stand in the lowest, hottest, and one of the strangest places in North America, Badwater Basin is calling.
This giant salt flat sits 282 feet below sea level, with a blindingly white crust that stretches for miles, cracked into crazy hexagon shapes that look like a tiled floor.
In the summer, temperatures here can soar past 120°F and have even reached a record-breaking 134°F.
But in cooler months, you can walk far out onto the flats and feel like you’ve stepped onto another planet.
4. Tecopa Hot Springs
After exploring Death Valley’s extremes, Tecopa Hot Springs is the perfect place to soak, unwind, and let the desert dust melt away.
This tiny desert town is famous for its natural hot spring pools, where mineral-rich water bubbles up from the earth at a steamy 116–118°F at the source—though resorts usually keep it at a comfortable 104°F for a relaxing soak.
Whether you go for a rustic outdoor soak under the stars or relax in one of the private bathhouses, this hidden gem is the ultimate way to recharge before hitting the road again.
5. Red Rock Canyon State Park
Back on the road, get ready for some serious movie-set scenery at Red Rock Canyon State Park.
This underrated gem along Highway 14 is packed with towering red and white cliffs, dramatic rock formations, and crazy-cool slot canyons that look straight out of an old Western (because, fun fact, tons of them were filmed here).
Hiking through Hagen Canyon or Red Cliffs Trail feels like stepping onto Mars.
6. Fossil Falls
Just when you think the desert couldn’t surprise you anymore, Fossil Falls flips the script with a dried-up waterfall made of jet-black lava rock.
Carved by ancient glacial meltwater, this bizarre landscape is a maze of smooth, twisted volcanic rock, deep potholes, and surreal formations.
It’s a quick stop off Highway 395, but scrambling around the otherworldly terrain and peering into the deep, water-carved chutes makes it feel like a hidden adventure.
7. Manzanar National Historic Site
A few miles north on Highway 395, Manzanar National Historic Site tells a powerful and sobering story from America’s past.
During World War II, this remote spot in the Owens Valley was one of ten camps where over 10,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly incarcerated, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers despite being U.S. citizens.
Today, you can walk through reconstructed barracks and visit the moving exhibits at the visitor center.
You can also stand by the iconic cemetery monument, all while the Sierra Nevada mountains loom in the background.
8. Bishop
Leaving Manzanar behind, the road leads to Bishop, a small town with big adventure vibes and some of the best food on Highway 395.
Surrounded by the Sierra Nevada, Bishop is a paradise for rock climbers, hikers, and anyone who loves jaw-dropping mountain scenery.
Whether you’re bouldering in the Buttermilks, fishing in Lake Sabrina, or just kicking back with a coffee and a mountain view, this little town is the perfect place to explore.
9. Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
If you think trees can’t be mind-blowing, the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest is here to prove you wrong.
High in the White Mountains, this otherworldly forest is home to the oldest living trees on Earth—some over 4,000 years old—twisting and gnarling their way through the rocky landscape.
Hiking the Methuselah Trail takes you past some of these ancient survivors, and with the thin mountain air and total silence, it feels like stepping into another time entirely.
10. Rhyolite Ghost Town
Crossing into Nevada, the abandoned ruins of Rhyolite Ghost Town feel like a Wild West movie set that got left behind.
Once a booming gold rush town in the early 1900s, Rhyolite is now a scattered collection of crumbling buildings, a lonely bank with no roof, and a house made entirely of glass bottles (because why not?).
It’s eerie, photogenic, and just the right amount of spooky—especially if you visit at sunset when the long shadows make the past feel just a little closer.
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