The worlds smallest mountain range

Last week we drove from Washington down to the Bay Area. The drive is long but filled with interesting features along the way. One area I always find interesting is the California Central Valley. On this drive you enter the valley from the north end and follow US 5 on a straight southern path.

The valley route follows the Sacremento River from it's headwaters (in the town of Mount Shasta) and passes sheep and cow ranches, nut trees, olive trees, fruit orchards and miles and miles of the most fertile rice paddies in the US. This time driving down the sky was filled with smoke from the seasonal burning of the rice fields.

As you look east across these fields you can see the smallest mountain range in the world, the Sutter Buttes. Last week the NY Times ran an article about these hills and the efforts to create a state park around them ( they are completely private owned today). The article tells about the volcanic upwelling that created the range independant of the Sierra or Coastal mountain ranges.