Hugging the coast of California, Golden Gate National Recreation Area might on first blush come across as a human-congested landscape, but there are places you can go that speak to the purely natural side of the park, as this video shows.

Perhaps the grandest Fourth of July celebration in the National Park System will be held in Washington, D.C., on the National Mall, where you can watch a parade, enjoy the Folklife Festival, listen to the U.S. Navy Band, and, of course, marvel at one of the largest fireworks displays in the country.

One-hundred-and-fifty years after President Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, the anniversary was used to launch an ambitious revitalization of the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.

Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site recently hosted its 32nd annual Fort Union Rendezvous that takes place each year during the third weekend in June. This year’s event commenced Thursday with Kids Day in the fort courtyard. Activities throughout the weekend included demonstrations of pottery making, gunsmithing, blacksmithing, bow making, flintlock firing, and frontier cooking. Muskrat skinning and brain tanning were offered for the strong of heart.