Prestige and research access for grad school

For an area like physics where prestige kinda matters (more than, say, bio or chem IME?) but it isn't like academic econ or ML or something (not interested in HEP-th or strings or whatever)-

Would it be better to attend a mid tier R1 such as UCSC (not interested in astro either lol) or something for 4 years to have access to more rigorous courses and denser research opportunities (for a student that's academically accelerated and opportunistic) from day 1, or attend a CCC for ~2 years and potentially get into a top school like UCSB or Berkeley with the caveat that I'd maybe only have one year at an R1 before applying to grad school?

For those who don't know, the California community college transfer rate for the prestigious UCs is much higher.

Yes I know 1 year transfer is possible but physics course sequencing is quite annoying and clunky. And yes I know it's still possible to transfer from a 4 year college, seems a bit risky either way. As a 1 year I'd also apply broadly to other ~T30s I think would be a good fit or whatever either way; I'd have a decent amount of college credits with hopefully a high GPA in rigorous coursework, mid but not terrible HS GPA (like 3.6X?), 15XX SAT, and domestic full pay.

Gap year or postbacc isn't the end of the world but still, should I just take whatever decent R1 I can get if I think there's a good chance I will try to pursue a PhD program?

And yes I know R1 =/= guaranteed freshman/sophomore research and CC =/= no research opportunities, but an R1 may still be structurally optimal.