Location, location, location (to live)

SImilar to Chico?  Meh, ya not really what I was looking for.  I didnt think Grass Valley or Placerville got that hot in the summer.

I guess hot is all relative.  I am content with anything under 95-100, and am happy with a few days being a little over 100.

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There was a long thread about living in northern California not long ago. I have friends in Grass Valley,  Colfax,  Nevada City who are very happy. Another friend is in Truckee. It’s expensive but she loves her lifestyle. Another place I would consider is Coarsegold south of Yosemite.

I’m not a fan of Yuba City or Marysville but I would be happy in the foothills to the east.

I’m a real estate appraiser in the Sacramento area.  If I can be of help,  pm me.

My mother lives in Lake Almanor. Nearby is Chester which has a small hospital and a little further away is Susanville, which has a prison. It may have a hospital, too. I don’t really know. My childhood friend moved to Susanville when she married her dentist husband. Anyway, Lake Almanor, Chester and Susanville are all in the mountains near Mt. Lassen. There are a lot of small towns back there like Quincy, which has a college and a few others. Not quite in the Sierras but pretty close and definitely in the mountains with pines and all that.

I think I drive through Marysville to get to my mom’s. It’s more down in the Valley with all the fruit trees and flat lands.

Experience living here:

I’ve been in the Yuba City/Marysville area for over 20 years. While I don’t necessarily love the city specifically, I do love the location.

Weather:

If you’re familiar with the northern valley, than you’re familiar with our weather. We’re pretty much the same as Sacramento.

Here we’re typcially, or at least should be, hot in the summer and wet in the winter. Spring and fall can be pretty pleasant. More recently we’ve just been hot in the summer and cool but dry in the winter. This season has been a bit different and we’re getting lots of moisture. Temperatures can easily get over 100 in the summer and hover about freezing in the winter for the lows, but daytime winter highs are generally near 60.

Topography etc

Piper has it right. You’ll find acres and acres of walnuts, prunes, peaches, etc. Grassland? Not so much. Rice fields? Sure.

Pockets of more wild areas can be found squeezed between the farmlands and in the riparian areas. Several wildlife refuges are in the area and are great for birding and hunting. Pintail ducks and tundra swans seem to be the most numerous at the moment.

To the east are the Sierra Nevada foothills. If you’ve been to the foothills anywhere east of Redding or Fresno, then you’ll find these familiar too. Lots of scrubby oaks (love them) that turn to pine as you go higher. Grass Valley doesn’t see too much snow, nor does nearby Nevada City, but there is quite a bit up the road on highway 20 currently.

I don’t know what Ken said with respect to Chico, but Sac, Chico, and YC/Marsyville are all in the valley and share a very similar climate.  However, Grass Valley is in the foothills and has milder summer temperatures.

What parts of California are you familiar with?

For the best backpacking, I’d consider towns further south closer to Yosemite and other prime BP areas.  I know there are hospitals in San Andreas and Sonora that have ERs.  The elevations are ~1,000 and ~1,700 respectively, so they are only a little cooler than the valley.  But one could easily live uphill from either of those locations in mixed conifer forest areas and commute down to work.  Up to 45 mins commute would allow living at elevations of several thousand feet in places like Arnold or Twain Harte which would be considerably cooler – figure about 3.5F cooler per 1,000 feet of elevation gain.  Climate/temp data is included in the Wikipedia entries for some of these mountain towns (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold,_California as one example).  If  not, a little hunting on weather sites will get you that info (eg.:  http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/l/Murphys+CA+95247:4:US ).

You might also check out Mariposa, http://gis.oshpd.ca.gov/atlas/topics/er_dashboard shows an ER there too.

I would NOT recommend San Andreas. I drive 20 minutes down out of the hills every morning to my job based out of San Andreas. Nothing going on there and the hospital has a terrible reputation. Any time I need a hospital I drive the extra 20 minutes north to Jackson.

Jackson is ok. Definitely has more going for it than S.A.. Sonora has a bit more than Jackson.

Arnold would be a great place to live if you like the snow. Plus, there is pretty decent backpacking 20 minutes east of Arnold, starting around Bear Valley, which also has a ski resort.

Good backpacking 30 minutes east of Sonora, too. Plus, Yosemite is only 1-1.5 hours away.

If I was you and those were my options I would probably lean towards the areas east of Sonora up Hwy 108. Too hot down in Sonora itself during the summer.

Of all the places mentioned my vote would go to Nevada City. Especially if you’re interested (or might be in the future) in whitewater kayaking. A couple of caveats though. The annual rainfall there is around 60″ a year. I’d bet a lot of locals don’t know that and wouldn’t believe it if you told them because it falls differently then- say- Seattle (only 38″ ). The other thing is a commute into Sacramento during normal commute times every day would not be fun. But if you could find work at the hospital in Roseville that wouldn’t be a bad commute.