The Sierra Buttes are a very prominent rock mountain summit in the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Tahoe National Forest. The nearest city is the appropriately named Sierra City. Getting to the trailhead to hike to the summit requires a 1 hour 10 minute drive north west from Truckee and would be about 2 hr. 50 min. north east from Sacramento.

When I visited to hike to the summit I stayed at nearby Sardine Lake campground. There are multiple camping and lodging options in the area and there are a few cities within about a 40 minute scenic drive.

On the top of the Sierra Buttes summit is a fire lookout tower which historically housed fire monitoring personnel. From the top there is a vast 360 degree view. The excellent clear weather allowed me to see the central valley (west), the Nevada desert plains (east) and even all the way to Mount Lassen and the snowy tip of Mount Shasta. There is a pedestrian path up to the tower and also a separate one for e-bikes and other motorized vehicles.

The hike to the top is definitely a serious one. I arrived at the trailhead around 10:30 am on a Wednesday in early summer and it wasn’t crowded. I’ve heard that it is recommended to arrive pretty early in the morning, especially during busy periods when campgrounds are full and if you’d like some solitude or quiet time on the trail.

After about 70 minutes of hiking – mostly up – I reached the base of the stairs leading to the lookout tower. I stopped a few times along the way for water, snacks and to take in the views. Before my battery died, my (old) watch measured the hike as 2.63 miles and more than 1500 feet of elevation gain – not a bad (harder) half of a workout!

To help complete the final ascent, there are metal stairs and hand rails which were installed by five people in the summer of 1964. What a crazy challenging job that must have been, drilling into the rock while hanging off the side of the face. The individual stairs were a little small for my hiking boots, so I would definitely recommend the “take it slow” approach. Towards the very top – (8,587 ft.) there was still some snow on the ground, which provided a chance for a cool down.

The metal walkways provide a unique experience that I have not had anywhere else – the feeling of walking through the air. Some of the metal path is high (10-20 feet) over the rocks below and one corner of the walkway around the lookout tower is actually 50-100(?) feet over the cliff below. Hard to say the distance for sure as I didn’t look down for long as I was concentrating on maintaining solid grips on the hand rails! The weather was ideal and there was just a light/cool breeze up at the tower.

I highly recommend the trip/experience! Now for a few more pics …

A note on the parking lot and trailhead – it is down a somewhat steep dirt and rock road from another parking lot for the Beginning Sunrise Trail. I saw a lot more cars there at the upper lot but I decided to try the closer lot. I would definitely recommend 4WD/AWD to get to the closer lot – my Toyota Sienna AWD did just fine, going slow in ideal/dry conditions. If you park in the farther/upper lot (several hiking groups did), it is just a short 1/4 mile addition or so to the route.