Butte Meadows Outdoor Adventurer Biking Hiking Trails

Discover the Colby Mountain Lookout Area

March 06, 2024 (Originally published February 24, 2021)
Colby Mountain Lookout
@chelseabeibei

Explore hik­ing and bik­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties in the Col­by Moun­tain Lookout/​Colby Mead­ows area.

Hik­ing

Offer­ing a vari­ety of snow-cov­ered cross-coun­try ski­ing and snow­mo­bil­ing trails in the win­ter, Col­by Moun­tain Lookout/​Colby Mead­ows is just as fun when explored on foot. It’s high­er ele­va­tion loca­tion makes it a great spot for sum­mer hikes, with lots of shade and cool­er tem­per­a­tures com­pared to the val­ley below. Enjoy a short­er, inter­me­di­ate hike by stay­ing on the trails in Col­by Mead­ows south of Col­by Moun­tain Look­out, or add a few miles and dif­fi­cul­ty by loop­ing around and up to the look­out for expan­sive views. 

Key Info

Trail Dif­fi­cul­ty: Mod­er­ate

Trail Length & Type: 7.3 — 9.6 mile loop

Best Used: May — Octo­ber (snow shoes/cross-coun­try skis required in the snowy months, gen­er­al­ly Novem­ber — April)

Dogs: Allowed

Oth­er Infor­ma­tion: Expect it to be about 20 degrees cool­er than the valley.

Oth­er Links: All­Trails

Bik­ing

Moun­tain bik­ing enthu­si­asts can spend a great day bik­ing Col­by Moun­tain and have the trails to them­selves. The trail is locat­ed in the Lassen Nation­al For­est north­east of Butte Mead­ows, 35 miles east of Chico. The mead­ow area along Col­by Creek is lush with veg­e­ta­tion dur­ing the mid­dle of sum­mer. Col­by Moun­tain has a fire look­out that affords a panoram­ic view of Lassen Nation­al For­est. This ride offers soli­tude and good odds of see­ing such wildlife as bears and deer.

Over­all, there area about 60 miles of trails with three loops.

Dri­ving Directions

From Chico take Hwy 32 head­ing east. About 15 miles beyond For­est Ranch, turn right on Hum­boldt Road. About five miles past Butte Mead­ows turn left into the Jonesville Snow­mo­bile Area park­ing lot.