A mysterious and stunning California mountain range that is almost impossible to visit

There is a stunning mountain range in Northern California that few people have ever visited due to its private land and the inaccessible terrain surrounding it.

Sutter Buttes, a geological wonder that formed about 1.6 million years ago, is located in the modern-day Sacramento Valley, between the California Coast Ranges to the west and the Sierra Nevadas to the east.

The range spans approximately 10 miles in diameter and rises to over 2,000 feet in elevation, making these mountains the highest peaks in Sutter County.

Butty – surrounded by yellow grasses, forests and pastures – is usually an obvious tourist destination.

However, because much of the land around them is owned by farmers and other private landowners, almost no one can visit them.

Most residents of nearby Yuba City, population 78,000, have only seen it from a distance as they travel along Interstate 5.

Still, almost all residents are somewhat aware of them, as the name Sutter Buttes is used to refer to the town’s Little League, brewery, olive oil company, and other businesses.

Images of the hills even adorn the official seals of Yuba City and the county.

“Butts are our north star,” Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris told SFGate. “It’s just the identity of the area. We wouldn’t be the same without it.

Before the 1960s, ranchers would let visitors through gates onto private property so people could see the hills up close.

Margit Sands, a third-generation farmer whose family owned 1,000 acres, told The New York Times that people began to take advantage of the landowners’ kindness.

“In the 1960s, the landowners themselves closed it,” Sands said in a 2007 interview. “Before, people could go up there, have a picnic, you know, a Sunday picnic, and it was fine. Close the gates in front of you and behind you. But then they started abusing it. They would leave the gates open; they would throw things in the trash.

An arson fire in the 1960s caused landowners to close off their acreage, preventing most of them from seeing the hills in person.

Now there are only two ways to see them.

The first is to drive on farm roads around the perimeter of hills bordering private farms, ranches and off-limits areas of California State Parks.

The second is to pay $35 per person for a guided tour by Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes, a nonprofit organization that has agreements with landowners who provide limited public access for educational purposes.

Laura Lush, charter tour coordinator for Middle Mountain Interpretive Hikes, grew up in Yuba City but didn’t see the mountains until her early 20s, she told SFGate.

Lush then said that “you have to know who to call” to have a chance at an appointment.

For the past two decades, she has led groups of 15 to 20 people on hikes in the fall, winter and spring.

“There is a powerful feeling here if you are aware of it,” she said, describing the feeling she experiences when she sees the hills. “I think a lot of landowners feel that, whether they intend to express that opinion or not.”

Sands, who still raises cattle on the Sutter Buttes property her grandfather bought in 1898, believes hiking offers a good compromise.

“People don’t know how to take care of their property. That’s why we organize hikes,” she told SFGate. “They are guided and people are watched, so you don’t have to worry about vandalism and things being destroyed.”

According to SFGate, reservations for hikes in the Central Mountains sell out within days, especially in spring when the grass turns green and wildflowers begin to bloom.

Lush said about 2,000 people take part in the hikes each year.

The California state park system attempted to provide greater access in 2003, purchasing 1,785 acres on the north side of the mountains.

He hopes to build a state park there one day, but so far that hasn’t happened.

First, all roads leading to Parks system parcels cross private property, preventing public access.

Matt Teague, director of California State Parks in the Northern Buttes, told SFGate that talks to purchase land surrounding the roads have fallen through.

Second, the area’s difficult terrain makes it difficult to establish a state park with the modern amenities needed to welcome tourists.

The property’s rocky roads, blazing summer heat, and wildlife threats such as rattlesnakes make it less than ideal.

“I mean, it’s almost dangerous there in the summer,” Teague said.

For now, hiking Middle Mountain is the only real way to see Sutter Buttes for most people.

Lush said her tours are mostly attended by out-of-towners, although before the pandemic she said she was able to regularly accommodate 2,000 students a year from across the Sacramento Valley.

“My favorites were the seventh and eighth graders because the girls had never walked on the ground,” Lush said.

She stated that it was a shame that more people could not visit the site, and acknowledged that the relatively undiscovered status of the area made it unique.

“Would I really like it if everyone in the world could see butts? Yes,” she said. Would they ever be the same then? NO.’