Mill Ridge Golf Course

Chester sits at the northeastern edge of the Sierra Nevada, at roughly 4,500 feet in the shadow of Mount Lassen — one of California's least-crowded corners and, for golfers, one of its most quietly rewarding. The town anchors the southern shore of Lake Almanor, a massive reservoir ringed by ponderosa pine and red fir, and the surrounding Plumas County landscape brings a genuinely mountain character to the game that coastal California simply can't offer.

Mill Ridge Golf Course is a 9-hole layout that fits naturally into this high-country setting. Courses of this type in the Sierra tend to reward shot-making over power — tight tree corridors, firm fairways in the dry summer months, and greens that can run faster than their modest elevation changes suggest. For visitors making the trip to fish Lake Almanor or explore Lassen Volcanic National Park, a round here is an honest, unhurried morning of golf rather than a production.

The broader Plumas County area actually supports a small cluster of mountain courses, making Chester a legitimate if under-the-radar stop for golfers exploring California's interior north.