Red Bluff

Introducing Red Bluff

Red Bluff is a sleepy cow town populated by ranchers and farmers. The town also boasts pleasant tree-lined neighborhoods full of restored 19th-century Victorian mansions, and a business district lined with old storefronts. Red Bluff is fairly flat, but nearby mountain peaks (including the Trinity Alps to the northwest and snow-topped Mt Lassen to the east) edge into the sky from almost every direction, adding a comforting beauty and making the little town all the more attractive. Peter Lassen laid out the town site in 1847 and it grew into a key port along the Sacramento River.

Red Bluff is notoriously hot as blazes during the summer, but it’s not hard to find relief in shaded riverside picnic spots and ample water recreation opportunities.

Cowboy culture is strong here; catch it in action the third weekend of April at the Red Bluff Round-Up (530-527-1000; www.redbluffroundup.com; tickets $10-19), a major rodeo event dating back to 1921. It’s held east of downtown at the Tehama District Fairgrounds.

Last updated: Mar 2, 2009