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The Sutter Buttes are home to a state park that almost no one is allowed to visit
The Golden State is rich in natural wonders, but there's one place that virtually no Californians have been able to visit: the Sutter Buttes.
Sometimes called "the smallest mountain range in the world," the formation in the Central Valley definitely sticks out in the region dominated by flat farmland. The Sutter Buttes are the remnants of a volcano that was active more than 1.4 million years ago. The resulting circle of lava domes contain pristine rolling hills covered in wildflowers and teaming with wildlife.
If you've never heard of the Sutter Buttes, it might be because the ancient and largely untouched land is mostly inaccessible — even though about 1,800 acres of it has been a state park since 2005.
As officials note near the top of the state park's website:
"There is currently no public access point to enter this park. This park has not been officially named."
The state land is entirely surrounded by private ranches and all roads leading to it are private. State officials purchased about 1,800 acres in 2003, believing that one of their neighbors might permit the public to use a road into the park, or else sell a slice adjacent to a public road. More than two decades later, neither of those things have happened.
Sun glistens off a lake inside Sutter Buttes State Park. (Brian Baer / California State Parks)
"Bitter debates over the lack of public access to the Sutter Buttes have roiled for years," Times reporter Jessica Garrison wrote this week. "But most everyone on both sides agrees on this: They encompass some of the most magical and otherworldly terrain in California."
Jessica unpacked the rich state history of the buttes in her recent story. They were a sacred refuge for the area's indigenous population — the Maidu people — for thousands of years. In the 1840s, U.S. military officers and mass murderers Kit Carson and Gen. John C. Fremont hid out in the buttes and plotted to seize California from Mexico. They later participated in hostile actions against Mexico that culminated in the Mexican-American War, which set the stage for California to join the U.S. Park plans were initially floated by state officials in the 1920s, but fizzled out. The state tried again in the 1970s, but met staunch local resistance. Some landowners did begin allowing limited access to the public via guided tours during that time.
Decades later, persistent state officials finally purchased land on the north side of the buttes, including a region known as "Peace Valley," and deemed it a park. But is a park really a park without parkgoers?
Some families have owned the land since before California was even a state. There's a strong sentiment among many of the ranchers that the buttes' tranquil splendor would be lost if the state started letting in the public.
"Many locals say the current status — an empty state park — suits them just fine," Jessica wrote. "The Sutter Buttes are a precious ecosystem, they say, filled with delicate tribal artifacts and threatened species. It isn't the same, they argue, as a state park in the immense Sierra Nevada or vast inland deserts or along the glittering coast."
State parks officials were not available to discuss the saga with Jessica, but provided a statement that the department "continues to look for opportunities to either secure land or easements to provide access."
There are still ways to see the Sutter Buttes IRL.
One local organization leads private hiking tours for small groups on private land bordering the park — but does not allow participants to enter the park itself. Reservations are scarce and the tours run from late October through early-May.
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