Foothills residents don’t have to travel far to find recreation venues. But at the Alta Sierra subdivision, country club living can be found right in their own back yards.
Developed in 1964, the residential tract was created from three former cattle ranches spreading across the hills about five miles south of Grass Valley. Comprising 6,200 acres of fragrant pine and cedar forests and colorful oak woodlands, the mini-community is embroidered with approximately 2,300 home sites stitched along the terrain’s natural contours.
At the center of the development is the Alta Sierra Country Club (www.altasierracc.com) and its 18-hole semi-private golf course. Designed by Jim Summers and Bob E. Baldock, the 6,537-yard evergreen trail presents plenty of challenges to both novice and experienced golfers. Open for limited public play in the afternoons, the course schedules special events seasonally and will offer twilight golf beginning April 29.
Knitted into the velvety hills, the course weaves past a variety of links-side homes. Its scenic ponds and meandering creeks present scoring risks to duffers and rewarding views to homeowners fortunate enough to look out over the rolling fairways and tidy greens.
In addition to the course, the country club has a driving range, pro shop, swimming pool, tennis courts and a clubhouse with a bar and grill that is open for lunch daily. The Timbers restaurant, a bistro-style dinner house that is open three nights a week, proffers contemporary cuisine in an elegantly casual atmosphere.
Although membership in the country club is not included with home ownership, all residents can enjoy the lush scenery and native flora and fauna at Alta Sierra. A Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, the course is a haven for waterfowl and wildlife.
Situated in Nevada County’s unincorporated territory, the immense subdivision includes a strip of commercial and office space abutting Highway 49. Across Dog Bar Road, on the east side of the development, is the Alta Sierra Ranches neighborhood where homes hunker down on
small chunks of acreage.
At the south end of Alta Sierra’s informal borders is the Alta Sierra Skypark, a private airstrip for pleasure tripping or handy aero-commuting. Few residential tracts can boast that exceptional amenity.
Sitting at about the 2,000-foot elevation, Alta Sierra gets an occasional dusting of snow in winter. But sheltered beneath a leafy awning of towering treetops, it also enjoys cooling breezes in the summer.
In any season, Alta Sierra affords its residents the opportunity to savor their leisure time without ever leaving the neighborhood.