Meet Sutter Buttes: "The World’s Smallest Mountain Range"

Lying amongst the rice fields and walnut orchards of northern California is “the world’s smallest mountain” range: Sutter Buttes.

The relatively speaking diminutive range is situated 18 kilometers (11 miles) northwest of Yuba City and 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Sacramento. Earning its (albeit unofficial) status as the planet’s dinkiest mountain range, it spans just 18 kilometers east-to-west (11 miles) and 16 kilometers north-to-south (10 miles). In contrast, the more famous Rocky Mountains carry on for a staggering 4,800 kilometers, stretching from the boreal forests of northern Canada to the deserts of northern Mexico.

According to NASA , Sutter Buttes is what’s left of a volcano last active during the Pleistocene Epoch, some 1.6 to 1.4 million years ago. The range compris