Mythical and mysterious places of the Bay Area (and CA)?

Wow, these are great. More! MOAR! :) NOW can I ask about these alleged caves underneath Boston?? Not under Boston. A friend who used to live/work in Boston was telling me of how there is a network of old disused tunnels under Boston. The basement of a store he worked for connected to the tunnels. I'm guessing http://bostinno.com/2012/01/06/a-deeper-look-at-the-mbtas-hidden-tunnels-photos/, and when they had the chance they would explore as far as they dared, and try to map them. (I'm under the impression the risk of getting lost was fairly serious.) He said there was also a natural cave system near the city, and that it was possible to get all the way from the tunnels to the caves and up out to the surface. (Or that it was thought to be possible?). He said the cave entrances are sealed with steel grills and doors to prevent kids getting in and getting lost - apparently there would be a death from time to time over the years, so the authorities take it quite seriously to keep the entrances gated. He's also heard that there is a lake down there, but he hasn't seen it. It's the perfect mystery blend that begins with "This much of it I have seen this with my own eyes and it's stone-cold real" and then throws in a pile of hearsay and legend and possibility.

Wow, St. Sorryass. I've been to the 10k Buddhas many times (always for the yummy vegan food) and never knew the backstory of the place. I had always assumed it was the Mahayana sect that built all the buildings. Now that I pause and think about it, it is clear that some of these buildings were older than the sect. I am going to be driving through there for Memorial day weekend. I'll pay more attention to the spookiness of the place this time around.

37.804944, -122.407986 Accessible from Grant Ave. No story or mystery behind it that I know of, but it's a nice, fairly private spot to rest with a million-dollar view.

There's the http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=16355 near West Sacramento, CA on the River Road which is a lovely drive.

Northern California is full of this type of thing, particularly as you get up into the Sierras. As you come north from SF, there's the old Nut Tree about halfway between SF and Davis, signs are still there but I'm not sure how much of it is actually left. In Sacramento, there's still a bit of the Old Town left under the retail that's encroached there, the rail road museum in particular is a bit of a throw back. The state capitol has some interesting nooks and crannies, a few of which a tour guide would be able to show you, the more interesting you kind of have to know someone who works there to get a gander at. On the other end of the downtown area is Sutter's Fort, which is kind of your springboard to the pretty much endless lore and leftovers of the gold rush in the foothills and higher mountains. You could start with the northern half of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Camino_Real_(California), mostly as it runs along Highway 49, and see countless historic spots where gold was first discovered, boom towns used to exist, ghost towns still do exist (well, more into Nevada for the better ones of those), etc.. There's also lots of great rivers and waterfalls to explore along the same route. Washington Falls, above Nevada City as you continue up 49 towards its terminus into I-80, is a family favorite, with cascading 25-foot waterfalls into pristine pools that you can jump one after the other. Not far from there is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malakoff_Diggins_State_Historic_Park, where you can get a real feel for how hydraulic mining worked, and walk 500+ meters in a pitch black tunnel that a creek still drains through. Nevada City and Grass Valley (both nearby) also offer a real Old Town feel and some other cool mining exploration / museums as well (respectively). That's just a few off the top of my head. If you wanted to get an idea of the sheer scope of opportunities in Nor Cal, you would probably start with the state and federal park service pages and go from there. There's a lot of cool stuff to see, typing this makes me realize that I took growing up there for granted.

Angel Island is an interesting, sort of off the beaten track place. Especially the Civil War Era http://www.panoramio.com/photo/25789961. Spooky.

The http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/history/santa-cruz-rail-tunnels.htm on the (extinct) Los Gatos to Santa Cruz railroad.

The Lemurians and Mt Shasta. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Shasta#Religion_and_legends

There's "closed", and there's "closed".