Yes, it is a skipper (family Hesperiidae) and very similar to European species in _Ochlodes_, and my guess is that it belongs to one of the North American species in this genus. For instance, it is very similar to _Ochlodes sylvanoides_ (also called Woodland Skipper), which is common in the western parts of the US. However, I'm not familiar with North American butterflies, and there might be closely related similar species that I'm ignoring.
Images of _Ochlodes sylvanoides_ from <
![enter image description here]( ![enter image description here](
More pictures can also be seen at Bugguide.net