By now you’ve noticed it’s summer, and hot—time to head up the road to the coast, or into the high country. Mark Twain described existence here otherwise when he poked fun at California's capital city in his 1872 travelogue Roughing It: “It is a fiery summer always, and you can gather roses, and eat strawberries and ice cream, and wear white linen clothes, and pant and perspire, at eight or nine o’clock in the morning.” Yep. We’ve all been there.
Ideal for beating the heat are nearby national parks—Lassen, the coast redwoods, even Yosemite and the rest of High Sierra sequoia country, if you can find a place to park yourself. Yet there’s a new one to consider, much closer to home: Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, created by President Obama on July 10, 2015.
Berryessa Snow Mountain includes three existing wilderness areas: Snow Mountain in the north, the high country just west of Willows and Maxwell; Cache Creek, east of Clear Lake; and Cedar Roughs just west of Lake Berryessa and east of Calistoga in Napa County.
Creating a mental map with just those facts reveals a key feature of Berryessa Snow Mountain: It’s very long and narrow, like a snakeskin just shed, shining and perfect but with a few tears and missing pieces. This ingenious patchwork of wild and wanna-be-wild public lands acknowledges both the needs of nature—wildlife corridors, anyone?—and the nature needs of increasingly urban Californians.
Most intriguing is Berryessa Snow Mountain’s biological diversity, the result of so many geographical and ecosystem transitions. The higher elevations of Snow Mountain Wilderness are more biologically rich than most other parts of California. (But be advised, summer hikers, that this landscape is not rich in drinking water. Pack plenty, and appropriate purifying technologies.) Best yet, even with its wonderful views and biological wealth, Snow Mountain and its many miles of trails are quite private. And unlike most wilderness areas, dogs are welcome.
The Cache Creek Wilderness is notable for its whitewater and its resident population of native tule elk, which you can sometimes see even passing through via Highway 20. Rare birds might be spotted, too, included the pileated woodpecker, pygmy owl, roadrunner, and wintering bald eagles. Nice trails also, though the area is lower in elevation and can get hot in summer.
Tiny Cedar Roughs Wilderness at the national monument’s south end is part of the western watershed for Lake Berryessa. This almost primeval landscape is largely inaccessible, at least until a new trail goes in. But one day you’ll be able to appreciate Cedar Roughs’ very large stand of genetically pure Sargent cypress, some 3,000 acres of trees that thrive on harsh serpentine soils.
In between and surrounding wilderness areas are many other parcels of public lands, most of them managed by the U.S. Forest Service or the Bureau of Land Management. A key reason behind Berryessa Snow Mountain was nudging both agencies toward collaborative planning.
Another reason: boosting the regional economy through increased tourism and recreation. Camping, hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, birding, and whitewater rafting are all popular. Off-highway vehicle use—Mendocino National Forest is proud of its OHV trail system and facilities—mountain biking, and hunting are also allowed in many areas.
Berryessa Snow Mountain is new, and still a new idea—so especially now, your ideas about what the future should hold truly matter. To get involved, contact Mendocino National Forest in Willows. As Mark Twain also said: “A person with a new idea is a crank until the idea succeeds.”
Kim Weir is editor of Up the Road, a nonprofit public-interest journalism dedicated to sustaining the Northern California story. A long-time member of the Society of American Travel Writers, Weir is also a former NSPR reporter.