SeeCalifornia.com

LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK, CALIF.– If  you don’t require loud pops, bangs and sizzles on your 4th of July, try visiting California state or national parks. There are over 300 that will be open this holiday season and most offer camping.  One of our favorite nature getaways is located in Northern California in a place formed by violent eruptions and explosions.  Lassen Volcanic National Park is nature’s wild place where you can slide in the snow, even in the summer months! Shown in one photo is a guy riding in the snow at the Bumpas Hell parking lot. Other photos include boating on Manzanita Lake and families picnicking near their campsite at Manzanita Lake campground.

In one of the most exciting environments you can find, Lassen Volcanic NP is a living firecracker of sorts. You can visit spots with cauldrons and bubbling pots of water in rocks– and even smell sulfur so familiar to fireworks lovers. Just staying in Lassen is a vacation that lets the mind run wild! All four types of volcanoes found in the entire world exist in Lassen Volcanic National Park, with the last eruption happening less than 100 years ago in 1915. A reawakening volcano climaxed  in an enormous mushroom cloud with a great blast rising seven miles into the stratosphere.  Spewing ash, smoke and steam, it hurled back to earth, crushing four to five million trees  in a pyroclastic flow of searing gas. Now that’s REAL Fireworks!

Volcanoes in Lassen Volcanic National Park:

• Shield at Prospect Peak
• Plug Dome at Lassen Peak
• Cinder Cone at Cinder Cone
• Composite at Brokeoff Volcano

Plan your trip: There are around 15 campgrounds and campsites  open during the summer months in this national park. Prices range from $10-50 for individual and group camping. A $10 vehicle pass is good for 7 days in Lassen. See: nps.gov/lavo