Panamint City, Death Valley, California

Panamint City is a high desert ghost town in Death Valley National Park's Panamint Range. Booming in the late 1800s for silver and copper mining, the city was isolated after a flash flood destroyed the only road in the 1980s. The 6-mile hike up Surprise Canyon passes waterfalls in the lower narrows where spring water creates lush vegetation before the trail opens to talus and scree on the way to the ghost town. Hotel, post office, brothel, and assay office ruins remain. Scrambling over slippery waterfalls, pushing through vegetation, and camping in the canyon en route. The hike is awesome — Death Valley's best-kept secret.