Cottonwood Peak

Route: Hot Springs Canyon
Posted On: 5/28/2025, By: SimplePole
Info: I hiked Cottonwood Peak from Hot Spring Canyon Trail. No snow until the last prominent point on the ridge at around 13k. There is some deadfall on the trail starting about 2.5 miles in, where the canyon gets narrow, and lasts for about half a mile. However, it was easy enough to maneuver around, particularly on the way down. The trail ends at around 3.9 miles in at a clearing. From there turn slightly to the right and hike a gully to the ridge. The terrain steepens but grass and grassy tundra last all the way to the above mentioned point on the ridge. For the last 0.7 miles/500 feet vertical along the south side of the ridge there is a continuous low angle snow line all the way to the top, quick and comfortable with microspikes, much better than talus hopping. 

Route: Hot springs canyon
Posted On: 4/23/2025, By: Dobsons
Info: I was blessed to hike cottonwood to lakes peak today. I ascended hot springs canyon trail and then traversed to lakes peak and descended the major creek trail. I carried snow shoes but never used them. Hot springs canyon (which has no springs and no canyon) had zero snow all the way to the ridge then some mild snow on the west ridge up cottonwood but that route is nearly summer conditions other then the last 500 feet. The traverse had plenty of mixed snow and talus but no traction was needed. The upper basin of major creek has some mild snow but the trail could still be followed all the way out from the saddle. It was a great day out and I didn’t see anyone other than my dad who joined for a few miles on the hike out. The loop was about 17 miles 6700’. 

Route: West ridge
Posted On: 3/17/2025, By: yaktoleft13
Info: Climbed Cottonwood from the hot springs trailhead with Marshall. Kudos to Marshall for encouraging us to commit to the full West ridge. It was dry for the first 2k vert, letting us make a lot of progress quickly. Gained the ridge just less than a mile from the parking area. Wide open tundra and rock until the first point. Some snow above 10.8, but not more than a few inches. Gaining the last couple of bumps before treeline held the most snow, but mostly below mid calf height. Never put on snowshoes. Once above treeline, we dodged the first bump to the south and climbed generally up the ridge. Wind picked up around 12.8, but was less intense than predicted for the most part. Watch was all funky stats-wise, but day should be somewhere around 10 miles and 5kish gain. 8 hours 

Route: West Ridge from Hot Springs Canyon
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: cloudkicker
Info: Full summer conditions. 99% snow free, I took like 10 steps total on sun cupped snow up high. I started at 10am and posted this from the summit. 

Route: From Hot Springs TH
Posted On: 11/10/2023, By: Will_E
Info: Not much snow to contend with on this route, just a light dusting below treeline, and again up high. 

Route: FS 198 - Silver Lake
Posted On: 10/23/2023, By: B_2
Info: FS 198: It is similar to Como Lake road. It is faster to walk from Rainbow Lake than to drive above it. The road, overall, is much more difficult than I was lead to believe during my research of the road. Patience, high clearance 4WD, or very strong ankles definitely needed to travel this road. Above Rainbow Lake to Cloverdale mine/Silver Lake TH requires serious 4WD skills, and I would have most likely messed up my lifted 4Runner and/or gotten high centered without a spotter and I still punched the skid plate a few times. Diff lock in low was used for many obstacles. The 4Runner was barely narrow enough to fit, there are very few places to pass above Rainbow Lake as it is a very narrow shelf road up to the mine cabin ruins. If you are planning to give it a 4WD go, there are nice camp spots at the north side of Rainbow Lake, about 1/4 mile above Rainbow Lake, then several near the mine cabin ruins and upper TH for Silver Lake. The Silver Lake basin has nice grass slopes as bookends to gain and exit the ridge if you are using this drainage for access. There is currently very little snow hanging out on northerly or shaded aspects, easy to avoid. 

Route: Hot Springs
Posted On: 10/22/2023, By: aholle88
Info: Sangres are bone dry, at least from Gibbs/Marcy area and north. North facing stuff has a little snow from Owen group south. Trail was easy to follow, did have a section of annoying deadfall. Trail fades away in an open meadow once you exit the canyon. From there it was easy, but steep tundra stroll to the ridge. No water anywhere in the creek from TH to summit, so creek crossings not an issue but dont plan on using a filter. 

Route: Garner / Hot spring loop
Posted On: 10/13/2022, By: SionaRW35
Info: This is a beautiful hike! Pure solitude all day today. I saw a few elk around 12,300'. A few aspen groves are hanging on in the Garner Creek drainage, but still some muddy spots on trail. Some avoidable snow above 12,500'. Brought gaiters and microspikes and didn't use either. 

Route: Hot Springs Trail
Posted On: 6/24/2022, By: gcook33
Info: Summer conditions. Great trail for 2.5mi. After ~2.5mi there's a few spots you'll have to navigate the trail and activate your jumps, hops, and skips. Nothing too difficult just deadfall and overgrown vegetation. Bring waterproof hikers/shoes and dry fit socks, after a night of rain that vegetation holds a lot of water. Magnificent day. 11 mi, 5100' 

Route: Hot Springs Canyon Trail
Posted On: 11/20/2020, By: VeraUndertow
Info: Climbed in conjunction with Electric, Lakes, Thirsty, 13123B and Cottonwood, so I only climbed down this way. The ridge from the summit to the trail was easy going mostly, only some minor snow patches to deal with. Heading down the trail into the Canyon was steep but mostly dry alpine grass, once you get into the Canyon the snow started to get thicker and was freezing over as I was descending, this was the only part of the day I out microspikes on for, from 11k-10k the trail was mostly covered in down trees and since no one had walked on it made following the trail somewhat harder than it should have been. Below 10k was mostly dry and I was able to run down part of the trail in the dusk to try to get out of the woods before darkness really fell. 

Route: West Ridge
Posted On: 8/22/2020, By: angry
Info: Ascended via Hot Springs Canyon trail - some deadfall, but easy to navigate. Trail fizzles out a bit before you gain the ridge but is very intuitive. The gain felt very gradual. There are a couple false summits. Went up UN 13,123 and then descended the Garner Creek trail to make it a loop. No summit register. 

Route: West ridge via Hot Springs Canyon
Posted On: 8/24/2020, By: Kcmartinez22
Info: Wow! What an incredible route and peak. 2wd road all the way to the Hot Springs TH (NOT AT THE HOT SPRINGS. turn right just before.) trail Is faint and over grown to treeline. Once above treeline curve to the ridge to your south/right. There is no real trail just out of the trees. Follow the mostly conglomerate ridge (sections of talus to contend with) to the summit (2 falsies). We descended via Garner Creek Canyon to tag UN 13,123'. THe ridge over from cottonwood up and the ridge down are mostly talus hopping and not as solid as the cottonwood ridge. It is fairly time consuming but the views are absolutely worth it. The trail from the saddle between the UN and Thirsty is pretty steep and loose until you reach the Tundra below and ridge you hike out. The trail on the garner creek side is well marked with cairns and seemingly more traveled. It's also lush with a few creek crossings and a large beaver area in the final 2 miles. It loops back around to the same parking area. Be prepared for this route to be much longer than the documented 11.3 miles. My garmin clocked it at about 14.5 miles. I would definitely recommend doing this hike clockwise as we did. The garner side is far more steep. Exciting to find such a beauty route from the west side. 

Route: Garner Creek
Posted On: 5/24/2020, By: tjf242424
Info: I went up Major Creek and tagged Electric, then traversed over Lakes, Thirsty, and 13,123 to Cottonwood, then backtracked to descend by Garner Creek. Portions of the upper Garner Creek trail are somewhat ill-defined with some small patches of snow remaining, but nothing of any consequence. The remainder of the route was snow free. Major Creek is in great shape, as noted previously. Garner Creek has some water/mud that is easily avoided. 

Route: Hot Springs TH
Posted On: 5/16/2020, By: TheHikingTexan
Info: Just to update the recent trip report on Cottonwood. Trail was fairly easy to follow until it ended around 11,400' at the gulley split where you turn right. Only snow left is on the ridge after the first false summit, easy to boot. I was the only car at the trailhead Friday evening, didn't see anyone until the final mile on the way out. 

Route: From Point 13,123, Hot Springs Trail Descent
Posted On: 5/9/2020, By: supranihilest
Info: There's a lot of elevation gain up Cottonwood, more than it looks when tired. It's not that steep or that loose, and there's no/little snow. Descending the west ridge to the Hot Springs Trail is the only significant snow on any of these five peaks. It's actually in pretty good shape, almost no postholing. There's plenty of steep talus to contend with though, and the descent from the saddle into the Hot Springs Valley is steep and uneven. There's an OK trail for the first bit but it doesn't matter, it's not like you can go anywhere else. The trail is a complete mess though, tons of deadfall everywhere, rotting sidehilling, wet, soggy ground, tons of creek crossings. Just follow the valley, it's pretty obvious. Eventually the trail diverges from the creek. Once back in the open desert follow the dirt and rock trail to the trailhead.