Cook Hill, 03/24/11

[robertjoy]

Above 1000ft we ran into more snow than we had counted on, and quite deep above 1400ft. But snow shoes would have been useless because of the incredible amount of blow-down. We made our own route up the "nose" of the ridge to the summit using GPS, and trying to follow "the route of least resistance. We figured after that exercise we would just follow the road back down, to save time. Saving time did not happen, as the snow on our descent route was often higher than the knee, and the blow-down on the road seemed actually worse than off the road. It seems that the road would be quite an unpleasant route even with no snow. But on the brighter side, the weather was absolutely perfect, and we avoided the crowds on our neighbor, Dog Mountain!

[drm]

Where do you start this hike? Is it public land?

[pablo]

Me too in asking about where one parks for this hike and the public/private status of the route.

--Paul

[robertjoy]

Cook Hill is about 1 mile east of Dog Mountain. Drive east on Hwy 14, turn north onto the Cook-Underhill Rd. Very soon there is a wide pullout for parking on your right, overlooking the river. Just across the street is a minor road that angles sharply back to access a couple of houses. Walk up the road a hundred feet or so, and after passing one house on your left you will notice on your right an old unmaintained roadbed that goes gently up into the forest. The very beginning is currently blocked by a pile of branches but is quite passable after that. For maybe half a mile the road is reasonably clear, then at about 1050ft you must cross a narrow stream. The roadbed traverses to your left, but is obstructed by major blowdown every 10-30 feet. I am guessing that this is private land.

[Guy]

This was new to me so I did a quick search & it seems that it's on the Mazama Hike List:

http://www.mazamas.org/your/adventure/starts-here/C93/

Thanks for posting, another new place to go!

[mattisnotfrench]

Cook Hill is on public land, or at least most of it is. I'm looking forward to checking it out later this spring.

[rosecity]

The start of the hike is on private land and (at least in the past) was posted. The flowers at the summit meadow are wonderful in the spring and the view is also great. There is a lot of poison oak on the road so it is best not to take dogs. The east "trail" also passes by a nice meadow with some flowers. However it is hard at times to find this trail from the uppermeadow if you take the road up and try to take the trail down.