Snow Mountain Wilderness, Wilderness area in Northern California, US

Snow Mountain Wilderness is a 60,076-acre federally designated wilderness in the Mendocino National Forest, about 65 miles north of Santa Rosa. It covers 13 miles of the North Coast Range divide, with two summits: East Peak at 7,050 feet and West Peak at 7,021 feet. Dark conifer forest covers the lower and middle slopes, while pale bare rock and snow patches break through near the crest.

Congress created the Snow Mountain Wilderness in the California Wilderness Act of 1984, one of 23 new wilderness areas that year. The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, signed on 17 October 2006, added 23,706 acres. In July 2015 the area became part of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. In August 2001 the human-caused Trough Fire, started near Fouts Springs, burned 24,970 acres.

The name Milk Ranch comes from Mrs. Tobobin, a late 19th-century settler who ran a dairy in a high meadow; cows were driven up in spring and the butter carried down to Williams and Willows each autumn. The nine-mile Milk Ranch Loop Trail crosses that private land, and the owner's permission allows hikers through but no camping.

There are 37 miles (60 km) of maintained trails and 18.5 miles (29.8 km) of unmaintained trails, reached by eight trailheads, four of them above 5,000 feet (1,500 m). The lower routes are the Trout Creek and Bearwallow trails; Bearwallow starts on the east side and crosses the slopes of Saint John Mountain (6,719 ft). The nine-mile Milk Ranch Loop Trail crosses private Milk Ranch land, where the owner's permission allows passage but no camping.

The area is home to over 500 plant species that grow in distinctly different ecological zones. From mixed conifer forests at lower elevations to pure red fir stands on high rocky slopes, the botanical diversity is striking for such a compact region.