The jeep road definitely goes through (as of November, 2011) and bypasses the gate. Follow this 2-3 miles to find the TH. You pass a few branches (continue taking the left route) and an old tank before finding a few fire rings and a cairn where the trail starts up a drainage.
This is a moderately difficult hike with a small scrabble in the final quarter-mile. This hike is fairly remote so take your time and don’t get hurt. I wouldn’t recommend it for a person that isn’t familiar with desert hiking or route finding. Also, be snake aware (year-round)! Follow A019 north past the no trespassing and private property signs. These signs were put there by the “Flying U” ranch and can be misleading upon first seeing them. They are basically stating that you need to stay on the road until you reach BLM land. Do not be dissuaded. Lots of people go drink and shoot guns on rancher’s land and these signs are up to limit that type of activity, they not to stop you from accessing the peak. It is a county road and you have a right to proceed (there are not any gates because it is publicly owned). Do not follow the red GPS on All Trails, this is not the route. Instead, use the southern trail noted by a dotted line found on most trail maps which passes near Rattlesnake Ridge. I suggest downloading the map offline as there are a couple of spots along the trail which are hard to navigate without GPS. To reiterate, do not take the northern route, this on private property! Overall, this is a slow hike as the trail is not maintained. Be prepared for a 4-7 hour outing without any drinkable water along the trail. Be on the lookout for rock cairns, the easiest to miss turn comes when heading up the canyon as the trail is very washed out. The majority of the trail is scattered with rocks which slows progress (but not problematic). Upon reaching the upper ridge the views are great on both sides of the peak and offer views up to 80 miles. The final scramble is straight forward, you do not need a rope, there are lots of holds and foot placements. This is a great hike if you have already explored parts of the desert southwest and are looking for a trail to get away from people. It’s not going to provide the “spiciness” of summiting Organ Needle or other true Class 3 peaks, but it’s a great hike to feel like you’re truly away from it all.
I drove from Hatch through Nutt on NM26, continuing 13.0 miles to Luna County road A019 (aka. Cookes Canyon Road) and turned right. You cross several cattle guards for the first 9.8 miles on this excellent dirt road. There are side roads, but these are either signed for a different destination (Fort Cummings, Hyatt Ranch) or are barricaded with a “No Trespassing” sign. About 9.8 miles after turning off NM 26, the road becomes rougher, but still passable for a regular car. After about a mile on this rougher road, you will see a road to your left with a BLM sign. This is the relatively new road that bypasses some Hyatt Ranch property. Almost immediately after turning on the BPM road, it gets significantly rougher, crosses an arroyo, and then requires a steep, rocky climb up to level ground. Given that it was dark and I had no information on road conditions further up, I chose to park here (about 0.25 miles after turning off the main road) for the night. The next day I found that the arroyo crossing was probably the roughest part of this BLM road. I took a hand-held GPS unit with me for route finding and milage. I strongly recommend taking one, as this area is isolate; I did not see another person the entire time. In the morning, I walked up this road, passing a tank with a broken windmill at mile 1.6, a road fork at mile 2.0 (take the left fork, picture), and the “trailhead” at mile 2.3 (picture). This trailhead is mentioned in the other trip reports and the faded “no vehicles” sign is still there. There is room for a few cars to park here. The trail starts out as an old road that is severely rutted, and there is a use trail alongside it. After a modest distance, the road becomes more distinct and is on the right side of a better defined arroyo (picture). The trail is generally pretty obvious going up the canyon and has cairns. Throughout it all, the rock summit of Cookes Peak will draw you on. Most of the time, the trail is on the left side of this canyon, but sometimes goes up the creek bed. About 1.3 miles past the trailhead, (at 7300 feet), the trail I took made a sharp right turn and climbed out of the creek bed. The trail works its way up to a northeast pointing ridge at about 7520 feet (picture). I was able to follow the trail to the southeast ridge of Cookes Peak a bit above the prominent saddle. Once on the ridge, I followed the sporadic trail and also an old barbed wire fence around two rock knobs (I did not see any tape in the shrubs). The upper rock knob has a use trail on the west (left) side after you step over the downed barb wire. Above the rock knob, the trail follows a ramp at the base of a headwall, and comes to a stop below the class 3 pitch at about 8140 feet (picture). I scrambled about 20 to 30 feet up this pitch and reached a rocky ramp (with some cairns, picture) to the final ridge. Follow this ridge to the first knob, from which the summit finally comes into view and make the final push to the summit. There are two summit markers here and a rock pile at the summit (picture). Enjoy the expansive views (pictures) for a while. I retraced my steps back to the road and the car. The trek down the ridges back to the trail and following the trail back into the canyon require care to follow and not get off-route. This is where my GPS unit was crucial. The hike took me about 5 ½ hours, 9.2 miles and about 3000 feet of elevation gain from where I parked my car. From the trailhead, the climb is about 4.6 miles and 2400 feet of elevation gain.
Bezoar Goat - Nov 28, 2011 7:06 pm - Voted 8/10
Jeep RoadThe jeep road definitely goes through (as of November, 2011) and bypasses the gate. Follow this 2-3 miles to find the TH. You pass a few branches (continue taking the left route) and an old tank before finding a few fire rings and a cairn where the trail starts up a drainage.
HikingMan - Oct 19, 2016 10:09 am - Voted 8/10
Length of HikeNice Post! Would anyone happen to know the length of the hike? I may have missed that.
Bryan J - Dec 6, 2020 9:52 pm - Hasn't voted
Update Dec 2020This is a moderately difficult hike with a small scrabble in the final quarter-mile. This hike is fairly remote so take your time and don’t get hurt. I wouldn’t recommend it for a person that isn’t familiar with desert hiking or route finding. Also, be snake aware (year-round)! Follow A019 north past the no trespassing and private property signs. These signs were put there by the “Flying U” ranch and can be misleading upon first seeing them. They are basically stating that you need to stay on the road until you reach BLM land. Do not be dissuaded. Lots of people go drink and shoot guns on rancher’s land and these signs are up to limit that type of activity, they not to stop you from accessing the peak. It is a county road and you have a right to proceed (there are not any gates because it is publicly owned). Do not follow the red GPS on All Trails, this is not the route. Instead, use the southern trail noted by a dotted line found on most trail maps which passes near Rattlesnake Ridge. I suggest downloading the map offline as there are a couple of spots along the trail which are hard to navigate without GPS. To reiterate, do not take the northern route, this on private property! Overall, this is a slow hike as the trail is not maintained. Be prepared for a 4-7 hour outing without any drinkable water along the trail. Be on the lookout for rock cairns, the easiest to miss turn comes when heading up the canyon as the trail is very washed out. The majority of the trail is scattered with rocks which slows progress (but not problematic). Upon reaching the upper ridge the views are great on both sides of the peak and offer views up to 80 miles. The final scramble is straight forward, you do not need a rope, there are lots of holds and foot placements. This is a great hike if you have already explored parts of the desert southwest and are looking for a trail to get away from people. It’s not going to provide the “spiciness” of summiting Organ Needle or other true Class 3 peaks, but it’s a great hike to feel like you’re truly away from it all.
ppbradpp - Apr 17, 2021 3:14 pm - Hasn't voted
Climb of 04/10/2021I drove from Hatch through Nutt on NM26, continuing 13.0 miles to Luna County road A019 (aka. Cookes Canyon Road) and turned right. You cross several cattle guards for the first 9.8 miles on this excellent dirt road. There are side roads, but these are either signed for a different destination (Fort Cummings, Hyatt Ranch) or are barricaded with a “No Trespassing” sign. About 9.8 miles after turning off NM 26, the road becomes rougher, but still passable for a regular car. After about a mile on this rougher road, you will see a road to your left with a BLM sign. This is the relatively new road that bypasses some Hyatt Ranch property. Almost immediately after turning on the BPM road, it gets significantly rougher, crosses an arroyo, and then requires a steep, rocky climb up to level ground. Given that it was dark and I had no information on road conditions further up, I chose to park here (about 0.25 miles after turning off the main road) for the night. The next day I found that the arroyo crossing was probably the roughest part of this BLM road. I took a hand-held GPS unit with me for route finding and milage. I strongly recommend taking one, as this area is isolate; I did not see another person the entire time. In the morning, I walked up this road, passing a tank with a broken windmill at mile 1.6, a road fork at mile 2.0 (take the left fork, picture), and the “trailhead” at mile 2.3 (picture). This trailhead is mentioned in the other trip reports and the faded “no vehicles” sign is still there. There is room for a few cars to park here. The trail starts out as an old road that is severely rutted, and there is a use trail alongside it. After a modest distance, the road becomes more distinct and is on the right side of a better defined arroyo (picture). The trail is generally pretty obvious going up the canyon and has cairns. Throughout it all, the rock summit of Cookes Peak will draw you on. Most of the time, the trail is on the left side of this canyon, but sometimes goes up the creek bed. About 1.3 miles past the trailhead, (at 7300 feet), the trail I took made a sharp right turn and climbed out of the creek bed. The trail works its way up to a northeast pointing ridge at about 7520 feet (picture). I was able to follow the trail to the southeast ridge of Cookes Peak a bit above the prominent saddle. Once on the ridge, I followed the sporadic trail and also an old barbed wire fence around two rock knobs (I did not see any tape in the shrubs). The upper rock knob has a use trail on the west (left) side after you step over the downed barb wire. Above the rock knob, the trail follows a ramp at the base of a headwall, and comes to a stop below the class 3 pitch at about 8140 feet (picture). I scrambled about 20 to 30 feet up this pitch and reached a rocky ramp (with some cairns, picture) to the final ridge. Follow this ridge to the first knob, from which the summit finally comes into view and make the final push to the summit. There are two summit markers here and a rock pile at the summit (picture). Enjoy the expansive views (pictures) for a while. I retraced my steps back to the road and the car. The trek down the ridges back to the trail and following the trail back into the canyon require care to follow and not get off-route. This is where my GPS unit was crucial. The hike took me about 5 ½ hours, 9.2 miles and about 3000 feet of elevation gain from where I parked my car. From the trailhead, the climb is about 4.6 miles and 2400 feet of elevation gain.