Lassen Volcanic National Park ~ 2014 Spring Much less snow this year

There is still much snow, but much less than regular years

As I mentioned, we went to Lassen Volcanic National Park.  It was nice weather this weekend and we enjoyed on a snow field.

Much Less snow than regular years

Due to much less snow this winter, snow in the park was much less than regular years.   I felt like it was May.   In a regular year, we made a nice size of a snow cave.  However, this year, snow over there could be only 1~2m (3~6 feet) that was not enough to make a snow cave.   So that we tried to make an igloo instead.

Igloo

We put snow blocks too high and we could not close ceiling.  But kids liked it very much.  After that they dug a tunnel to reach inside of it.  

Entrance of the tunnel

Kids also enjoyed snow threading on a sloop. 

There was still much snow, but I felt like it was May

The weather was warm and we did not need a jackets.  We did not feel cold at all.  Actually we were sweating when we dug snow, climbing up for snow threading.

  CA-89, snow removing has not been started

Last year, snow removing was started when we visited there in the last weekend in March.  This year was a week earlier, however, it has not been started yet.   Actually, the visitor center was closed till the end of March.   I think it is due to the budget cutting by the government.

Around the visitor center, there is usually snow walls around the building.  However, this year, there was no snow walls around there.

The Visitor Center

Usually, we could not see the building from this location due to more snow!

Anyway, we enjoyed this weekend with our friends and had a really nice time over there.
Even if there was not much snow this year, it was still nice to play with snow.  Kids like this very much.   If you have a chance, I recommend to visit there in this time of the year.