7 Offbeat California's Sierra Nevada Towns To Visit In 2025

So rugged that it impeded travel and settlement in the 19th century, the Sierra Nevada is now an extremely popular destination. Millions of people inhabit or visit this California/Nevada mountain range, especially near world-renowned wonders like Yosemite National Park and Lake Tahoe. But we are here to talk about lesser-known wonders (which you might call oddities) that rock the range—and people's minds—in small, offbeat towns. Behold seven such settlements to survey in the Sierra in 2025.

Murphys

Murphys law states you can always find something strange in this village. For attracting thoughtful historians and drunken bachelorettes in seemingly equal number, SFGate described Murphys as the "little California town with two faces," but that neglects all its other faces. They include the spelunkers descending into Mercer Caverns, connoisseurs sampling wine at Ironstone Vineyards, and gemologists inspecting the world’s largest chunk of crystalline gold at Ironstone Vineyards' Heritage Museum and Jewelry Shoppe.

Add your own face to that diverse crowd in 2025, especially during offbeat events like Chicken in a Barrel, which involves barrel-roasting chicken and entertaining humans on the first Saturday in June, and the Calaveras Grape Stomp & Gold Rush Street Faire, where barefoot stompers compete to produce the most juice on the first Saturday in October. Both fests have been running for over three decades.

Nevada City

Like many Sierra settlements, Nevada City boomed off the Gold Rush and then declined when the mines dried up. To buck oblivion, however, Nevada City repurposed its Gold Rush relics as gaudy attractions. Sure enough, tourists hunt the ghosts of prosperity past to create a prosperous present. They tour the Nevada Theatre, which, as the "oldest, continuously operated theatre venue on the west coast of the United States," has hosted everyone from Mark Twain to Mötley Crüe; party in the Stone House's cavern, which served as a brewery in the late 19th century; and catch a show at the Miners Foundry Cultural Center, which began as a machine shop in 1855. Its oddest show, the Nevada City Oddities & Curiosities Show, features bones, bugs, medical specimens, bizarre art, taxidermy, and many other things that tend to repel rather than attract. Expect Connstance Garcia and her modern-day sideshow to roll into town in September.

Mammoth Lakes

Not all Sierra Nevada oddities are man-made or woman-curated. Case in point: the natural formations flanking Mammoth Lakes, a small town to the east of Mammoth Mountain. To the west of Mammoth Mountain sits Devils Postpile National Monument, which preserves 101-foot Rainbow Falls and a "devils postpile" of 60-foot volcanic basalt columns. To the north lies Mono Lake, an ancient saline water body from which protrude calcium carbonate pillars called "tufa." And to the south stand the Crowley Lake Columns, which resemble Moorish architecture but were reportedly formed by snow and volcanic ash. Mono Lake's tufa are visible year-round, but Crowley Lake's columns are often submerged during summer and the road to Devils Postpile is not set to reopen until July 3, 2025.

Mariposa

Named after the Spanish word for butterfly, Mariposa is home to the Mariposa Butterfly Festival. Beyond standard fair fare like food, crafts, kids' games, live music, and a parade, the festival sees thousands of butterflies being released into the Sierra Nevada foothills. 2025's edition just passed, but do not fret: there are other colorful fests to draw you to Mariposa for the rest of the year. Don your best cloak (but skip the dagger) for the Yosemite Chivalry & Fantasy Festival, which is scheduled to run from May 31 to June 1 at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, and then "awaken your inner goddess" at the Yosemite Goddess Festival, which is also to be held at the Fairgrounds on October 4 and 5.

Lake Isabella

Stuck in the southern Sierra on the banks of a namesake reservoir, Lake Isabella is a gateway to artificial and natural oddities. Find the former in neighboring Bodfish at the Silver City Ghost Town. In contrast to Nevada City's golden relics, Silver City has over 20 ramshackle buildings dating to the same era but without the same glitz. Their aesthetic is "arrested decay."

Its the natural oddities that dazzle near Lake Isabella. In fact, they literally glow. After touring Silver City, stop for a light show in the surrounding Sequoia National Forest via the only known genus of bioluminescent millipedes. Besides glowing in the dark, these many-legged bugs smell like almonds thanks to the cyanide they secrete to ward off predators. Look and smell, but do not touch.

Bishop

As "the heart of the Eastern Sierra," Bishop pumps tourists through arteries of intrigue. They arrive at Erick Schat's Bakkerÿ, a traditional European bakery that handmakes Basque-style Original Sheepherder Bread, which was trademarked in 1938. According to Atlas Obscura, each day Erick Schat's bakes six times as many loaves as Bishop has residents. Tourists are also funneled through the Laws Railroad Museum & Historical Site, which displays vintage rail cars alongside a stuffed conjoined lamb that supposedly hails from a nearby farm. Tourists can leave town for a true adventure at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, whose titular trees are considered Earth's oldest living non-clonal organisms. The oldest among them, Methuselah, was born almost 5,000 years ago. Besides, when the access road is closed due to snow, the forest is explorable year-round.

Angels Camp

Angels Camp's quirkiness begins with Mark Twain and continues with frog jumping. This Sierra town is where Twain, then a miner, heard the tale that he would immortalize in 1865's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County." Thanks to Angels Camp, Twain jumped off to stardom, and thanks to Twain, Angels Camp started hosting the Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee. Though forcing frogs to jump is not exactly ethical, the jubilee has plenty of non-froggy attractions like classic fair food, live music, carnival rides, wine tasting, and a parade. You can attend the jubilee from May 15 to 18 before touring the Angels Hotel, in whose tavern Twain allegedly learned about the fame-making frog. Though the hotel is no longer active, its building has a frog-Twain mural and its sidewalk a "Frog Hop of Fame" for jubilee winners.

While it is tempting to visit typical Sierra Nevada haunts, the offbeat side of this marvelous range beckons. It does so from small towns that provide access to myriad oddities along with respite when the weird gets too weird. Spend 2025 in the comfort of Murphys, Nevada City, Mammoth Lakes, Mariposa, Lake Isabella, Bishop, and Angels Camp while exploring the wild and wacky side of the Sierra Nevada.