Glenn County: Lakes, Wildlife and Special Excursion Destinations

Glenn County combines expansive landscapes with an unusually diverse range of excursion destinations: You can observe wildlife, enjoy activities on lakes, explore historic places or spend a day at Thunderhill Raceway Park. When looking for a vacation rental, it is therefore worth first deciding on the desired mix of nature, water, culture and special experiences.

Discover Nature and Lakeside Landscapes

The Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge extends across Glenn County and Colusa County. Its 10,819 acres include wetlands, grasslands and other habitats. The area offers opportunities for wildlife observation, photography, hiking and hunting. Anyone wishing to combine a trip with nature experiences can mark this place as an important focus of their plans.

The two large bodies of water also offer different experiences. Stony Gorge Reservoir is located in western Glenn County, about 20 miles west of Willows. Its 18-mile shoreline provides opportunities for boating, camping, hiking, picnicking, fishing, swimming and disc golf. The Bureau of Reclamation manages the recreational facilities at Stony Gorge Reservoir and offers year-round opportunities for outdoor activities there.

When full, Black Butte Lake covers 4,460 acres, is seven miles long and has a 40-mile shoreline. In addition, there are more than 20 miles of hiking, mountain biking and nature trails with viewpoints and opportunities for wildlife observation. The Buckhorn and Orland Buttes campgrounds at Black Butte Lake offer drinking water, picnic tables, fire rings, boat ramps, dump stations for recreational vehicles and restroom facilities with showers.

Active Days and Unusual Experiences

Thunderhill Raceway Park is aimed at visitors who want not only to watch motorsports but also experience various driving formats. The park has three different road-course configurations and two skid pads. Offerings include racing, high-performance driving, drifting, karting, motorcycle training and autocross. The full circuit is five miles long. This makes the raceway a clear counterpoint to peaceful days in nature and expands the options for varied trip planning.

At the Honeybee Discovery Center, you can plan bookable group tours through the current exhibition. BEE-NATOMY 101 provides insights into the anatomy of the honeybee and includes interactive elements. This creates a distinct reason to visit if, in addition to landscapes and physical activity, you would also like to include a natural-history topic in your trip.

History, Places and Regional Impressions

In Willows, the Willows Museum is housed in the building of the Andrew Carnegie Public Library, built in 1911. At the Glenn County Fairgrounds, the Heritage Trail features a one-room schoolhouse, a blacksmith shop, a gas station, a soda stand, a print shop and a railroad depot. The Orland Newville and Pacific Railroad is designed after narrow-gauge railways with a three-foot track gauge from around the turn of the century. Together, these places offer different ways to explore regional history without requiring you to focus your trip exclusively on a single theme.

Culinary and local impressions can also be included in your plans: The Orland Market of the Glenn County Certified Farmers’ Market takes place on Thursdays from May through August in Library Park at the intersection of 4th and Mill Street. The Glenn Golf and Country Club has a nine-hole course that can be played as an 18-hole course using different tee boxes.

Choose the Right Accommodation Area

Glenn County can be explored in different ways depending on your travel idea. If you want to combine wildlife observation and water activities, the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, Stony Gorge Reservoir and Black Butte Lake are the main attractions. For a trip focused on active pursuits, the trails at Black Butte Lake or Thunderhill Raceway Park are additional options. Culture, history and local events, on the other hand, create different focal points in Willows and Orland. The completion of Interstate 5 made Willows a stopover between Sacramento and Redding in 1979; this historical context is also part of understanding the place.

Choose your vacation rental according to your preferred travel rhythm and the excursion destinations that interest you most. For further orientation within the area, you can also view Glenn. More destinations at a glance: Shasta, Alpine County, Tulare, Inyo, Kern, Orange.

For the overarching travel overview: California.