Luna County High Point Trip Report

Cookes Peak

Date: November 21, 1999
Author: Dinesh Desai

We followed Andy Martin's described route and parked near the gate at 5,400'. There was a "No Trespassing" sign on the gate. There were a bunch of very nice and polite hunters there and they told us that the private property was just a small parcel (0.25 acre?) and told us to go around it by going right and then going through two chained but unlocked gates. They said that BLM is planning to reroute the road around this piece. That can cut about 4 miles from the climb.

It was pretty straight forward after this and carefully following the faint use trail made bushwacking on the saddle not too bad. The use trail continues along the fence at the end of the saddle and then across some easy slabs to the top. A great peak with magnificent views, done completely legally.