Which foothills town? Chico, Grass Valley, Nevada City or other?

[MechAndy]

My friends in Twain Harte just sent us some pics.
They have near 6 feet high of snow leaving their front door to their car.
He does look odd shoveling the snow over his shoulder to clear a narrow path/tunnel to exit his house.
Yeah no .

[phinneas j. whoopee]

If you can go south from there Tuolumne County has its charms and real estate still cheap. I went to high school in Sonora and lived just downhill from Twain Harte. Didge Ridge has great skiing, think they have a MTB summer program? Youre not far from Modesto and of course Yosemite is just south but you dont need to go that far. Twain Harte is just 18 miles from Pinecrest lake:


Which is in the Stanislaus National Forest and about 5 miles from Dodge Ridge.

The entire population of Tuolumne County is somewhere around 55,000. It was 25,000 when I left in 1980. It rose till 2000 and has been about flat since.

Theres a few dot com billionaires there and I wouldnt describe it as bumf**k but if youre looking for rural mountain California you found it. Columbia was the site of the second biggest gold strike in California. Standard and Soulsbyville used to have a large Amish community working at the georgia pacific sawmill. Logging was a huge industry and our five acres at the 3200 ft level was covered in live oak, pines, cedar, and a few redwoods along with manzanita and wild blackberry stands. We never had to buy firewood and I didnt have a problem bringing a string of rainbow trout home twice a week in the summer while exploring the creeks near our property.

[phinneas j. whoopee]

Originally Posted by la_cavalière

Auburn would be a good choice for the OP, especially with all the mountain biking in Auburn State Recreation Area. It's closer to Sacramento and has more amenities (big box stores etc.). It feels more suburban than a quaint foothills town, though. And there are lots of mountain bike trails in GV/NC as well as other foothill communities.

Never been to Twain Harte, but it looks charming. Not sure it has the music scene or the liberal slant the OP is looking for.

Yes and no. There are plenty of liberals in the area but as is much of rural california there are conservatives too. Tuolumne county did have a mountain aire music festival back in the day, not sure now?
As for 6' of snow in Twain Harte. Thats very doubtful, of course its a transitional area going up the 108, the most accumulation I saw in about 15 years in my time in the area was about 2' at the 3200 ft level I think that was in 1973? It was the week after Nixons double daylight savings time took effect because I remember waiting for the bus to take me to soulsbyville elementary in pitch black darkness, with snow up to my hips and thinking Id be telling my kids about how bad we had it like my moms horror stories about 5 mile treks to school in nebraska.
You could get 5-6' in Long Barn, 10 miles up the hill. The elevation varies greatly in that whole area, a few miles one way or the other will determine who gets snowed in, what kind of trees and vegetation cover the area, even whether your property is covered in granite boulders and cliffs or soft dirt and rolling hills.
Thats why my parents picked that property on Longeway Rd in 1965. We had all that variation on just 5 acres and enough room for my sister to have the horse she wanted. I was younger so I got to ride the donkey.

[evening sun]

Some parts of Grass Valley/Nevada City were snowed in recently. Chico had no snow.

[evening sun]

I also would not consider Chico a foothill town, it is in the valley. Paradise & parts of Oroville (Kelly Ridge), near Chico could be foothill towns.