Wyntoon is the Hearst family's lesser-known mountain estate, tucked into a bend of the McCloud River about six miles southeast of town. It is strictly private — you cannot tour the grounds or even drive in — but it is part of the texture of this region, a place locals talk about and where Hearst Corporation executives still retreat.
What sits behind the gates is extraordinary: a cluster of half-timbered Bavarian cottages designed by Julia Morgan in the 1930s, painted with fairy-tale murals, set among redwoods along the river. You can sometimes glimpse the rooflines from public roads on the opposite bank. Treat it as a curiosity, not a stop.