Sutter Buttes State Park 🌋🌋 California

The Sutter Buttes are a small circular complex of eroded volcanic lava domes which rise as buttes above the flat plains of the Sacramento Valley in Sutter County, Northern California. They are situated just outside Yuba City in the northern part of the state's Central Valley, 50 miles north of Sacramento, California, and are sometimes called the world’s smallest mountain range. However, the buttes are technically not mountains, but rather hills topped by eroded domes formed by volcanic activity 1.6 million years ago. Sutter Buttes’ highest point is 2,122 feet high, a dramatic contrast to the flat agricultural lands that stretch out past the buttes for miles. The Buttes, and the neighboring town, are named after Captain John Sutter, who received a large land grant from the Mexican government in the 19th century. Most of the land is private property used by ranchers and farmers, although in 2003 the state of California acquired 1,785 acres of the Buttes, including a section called Peace Valley. On April 8, 2005, the State Park and Recreation Commission classified the State Parks Sutter Buttes Property as a State Park.