Lassen Volcanic National Park, about 90 minutes east of Chico, is one of the most underrated national parks in the country — a landscape of active hydrothermal features, lava fields, and mountain lakes. Oroville, 25 miles south, has the Feather River Canyon and the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area for boating and swimming. The Plumas National Forest to the east offers good fishing and hiking in a region that sees a fraction of the crowds that descend on the Sierra Nevada further south.