A Visit to the Sutter Buttes | The World's Smallest Mountain Range

[@swindlely]

Sorry to be the person but that road art around 4min in is classic.

[@InterstateKyle]

I honestly didn’t notice that until I went back and edited this video… it was so random to me to have this here considering it’s just a country road and not a state Highway lol.

[@GoingsOn]

Very cool video, Kyle! I remember the first time I saw this mountain range was from I-5 northbound, it was a hazy day, and the Sutter Buttes were just faintly outlined and I wondered what there was just sticking out in the middle of the flat valley! Took me another six years before I learned about this!

[@InterstateKyle]

There’s such an aura about them it’s hard to explain and until I did some more research I always thought they were a north-south mountain range. I love these geographic anomalies.

[@GoingsOn]

@@InterstateKyle Very interesting!

[@C4Faute]

So basically the land owners built a fort around that whole mountain range and put up 'No Trespassing' signs?

[@bradellis3819]

Used to live on S. Butte rd in Sutter they were my back yard been all over in the buttes loaded with hogs and even its own Air force missle silos filled in now of course

[@DWNY358]

Very interesting excursion! Too bad it can't be climbed. The views east and northeast towards the Sierra & Cascades must be amazing.

[@InterstateKyle]

I think so too! Thank you for watching Carl!

[@ecor150]

As a mountain lover I often focus too much on very high, always snow capped mountains like the 8000s, and other famous mountains like Matterhorn and Denali. I forget to enjoy the smaller ones and I never knew this was the smallest mountain range ever till now.

[@leddygee1896]

I grew up in Sacramento well over 50 years ago, and the Bluffs always struck me that it was a giant mountain all it's own, that had blown it's top... If you follow the apex of elevation from the base of the Bluffs, The mountain that was the Bluffs was likely 12,000 to 14,000 ft. in elevation before it erupted... It also could have fed the topsoil content for the whole California Agricultural Boom...

[@lemon7987]

Makes me wonder if there's any evidence of ancient volcanic activity around that area. Edit: After a quick google search, the sutter buttes are in fact the remains of an ancient volcano formed more than 1 million years ago!

[@jayesouthworth]

I have a view of them from my front window. Some days they are an optical illusion. Some days the Buttes look like they are just 5 miles from us and on other days they appear as if they're 100's of miles away. It all depends on the pollution. I'd like to go on a guided hiking tour some day at the Buttes.

[@jordanperez4540]

This is my front yard view here in Colusa CA.

[@InterstateKyle]

That’s awesome!

[@IHeartToodlez]

I live in yuba city, and when I am in school, I always see it.

[@Skymedc]

I grew up in the Chico area. My mother always would say that when God was walking across the earth to make the Sierra Nevadas he accidentally dropped some earth, and that became the Sutter Buttes. BTW, there is an old Titan 1 ICBM missile base on the north side.

[@BarbaraDucey]

Hi , thought I would let you know The Buttes are more closely related to Coast Ranges near Clear Lake, Napa Valley, & Sonoma Valley…Cascades are very far away from the Buttes…

[@davidsilvercreek8541]

What about Uwharrie mountains in NC?

[@kurtb8474]

I wouldn't call it the ''central'' valley. I've lived near the Buttes for nearly 60 years. We're in the Sacramento Valley. As far as I know, the central valley of California in somewhere around Fresno with is nearly 5 hours to our south.

[@andyjay729]

Maybe some locals can elaborate, but aren't parts of the range owned by a trust, and don't they allow people to enter and climb the range at certain times of the year? Also, I think the Wikipedia article also cited some claims that the Buttes may be related to the previous volcanic activity in the North Bay Area, which is also responsible for geothermal activity (and power generation) around Geyserville.

[@TheClamRam]

Lived in Yuba City all my life and as far as I know you can only pay to go on guided tours around the buttes. Never done it myself though.

[@Headtube]

The Sutter Buttes are not a mountain range.......but rather the remains of an ancient volcano.

[@danny-ee8ye]

still technically a mountain range

[@Headtube]

@@danny-ee8ye Okay, technically correct but highly misleading. don't you think? The definition you choose refers shape and says nothing about origin, or any of the causes for it's shape. I would think a little education would have been welcome. It's not like I said the post was boring and misleading.

[@lemon7987]

Driving out here late one afternoon I saw a big grey wolf with yellow eyes carrying a dead rabbit in it's mouth across the road and through someone's fence. I'd never seen a wolf in my life but it was much too big to be a coyote. No idea what it was doing out there.

[@nightowl7261]

Coydog