24 wonders of the West

These national monuments and other treasures will make you fall in love with the West all over again

The new Western icons

These unique landscapes have been suggested for national monument status. But you don't have to wait for Washington, D.C., to decide. Here's where to go right now.

West's amazing places: Berryessa Snow Mountain, California

story by Peter Fish

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Berryessa Snow Mountain, California

San Francisco is only 100 miles away. But Berryessa Snow Mountain feels far more distant, and much wilder.

A half-million acre portion of Northern California’s Inner Coast Range, it offers pleasures like steep, oak-dotted hillsides, rushing creeks, and wildlife such as bald eagles and tule elk. Groups like Winters-based Tuleyome are pushing for its protection, as national monument or as part of the National Landscape Conservation System.

You can access existing Snow Mountain Wilderness from the little town of Maxwell, off I-5. For directions and road conditions, contact the Mendocino National Forest office in Willows: (530) 934-3316.