BCEP 2024: Team 08 Conditioning Hike Cook Hill

Activity Notes

Print out GAIA map: https://www.gaiagps.com/map/?loc=12.6/-121.6950/45.7236&knownRouteId=233855

Print out Caltopo map: https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=45.72961,-121.67685&z=13&b=mbt

Mazamas BCEP 2024 Hike Prospectus – Cook Hill – 3/23/24

Team 8 – Ali Koch / Andrew Bodien

Hike: Cook Hill 

Route: Loop hike

Length / elevation gain: 8.8 miles / 2,930’

Grade: B

Date: March 23, 2024

Start Time: Be ready to hike by 8:00 am at the trailhead. 

Hike Leader: Ralph Daub (503) 470-9935

BCEP Leader: Andrew Bodien (503) 281-7469

Carpool sign up link:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13wd3GDWv2sOG4CLO5fPT5SeJDIbk3NBuY5V2y5M8UbQ/edit#gid=1998354109<br>  

Leaving Time:

The drive from Portland is about 75 mins.  Allow time to gear up and be ready to leave TH at 8:00am.

Return time:

We should be back to the cars no later than 4:00 pm.

Directions to Trail Head from Portland:

Drive I-84 east to Exit 44 for Cascade Locks and Stevenson. After exiting, go 0.4 miles, and turn right for the Bridge of the Gods Toll Bridge and Stevenson. Drive 0.7 miles to pay the $3.00 toll, cross the Columbia River, and reach the junction with Highway 14. Turn right (east) here for Stevenson and Kennewick, and drive 14.9 miles, passing through Stevenson, before making a left turn onto Cook-Underwood Road for Mill A and Willard. Go 0.3 miles and, just after passing Jackson Road on your left, stop in the large parking pullout on your right.  

NOTE – the Cook Hill TH is just a couple of miles east of the Dog Mt. TH. Driving time from Portland is about 70 minutes.

Google Maps to Trailhead: 45°42'43.3"N 121°39'13.0"W

Permits and/or Restrictions:

No passes or permits are required for this hike.

Caltopo Map:

https://caltopo.com/p/39591 (link expires March 25th, 2024)

Special Equipment: What to bring:  

• Cup or drinking container (for hot chocolate)

• Sturdy hiking boots/shoes 

• Layers of clothing that can be adjusted or removed as necessary to keep you warm and dry (NO COTTON!!!)  

•Rain gear – jacket and pants (you never know) 

•Trekking poles (never a bad idea)  

•Lunch, snacks to share, and water – at least two liters

•Climbing harness with your gear, carabiners, prusik loops, helmet

•Gloves and hats (warm and for sun protection)

•10 Essentials: Navigation (paper map), Sun protection, Insulated clothing to keep you warm, Illumination (headlamp or flashlight), First Aid, Fire (matches or a lighter), Repair Kit/Tools, Nutrition, Hydration, Emergency Shelter/tarp.

Since this is a Gorge hike in the NW in spring, be prepared for any weather or all types of  weather. 

Weather:

Check the forecast for our hike area. Here is a link to the NOAA weather for the Stevenson, WA, area for the next few days: 

7-Day Forecast 45.75N 121.68W (weather.gov)

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lon=-121.66946404427289&lat=45.754109738514444#.ZBI01BXMJPY

Hourly Forecast 45.75N 121.68W (weather.gov) 

https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=45.7541&lon=-121.6695&unit=0&lg=english&FcstType=graphical

Current Conditions:

https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/washington/cook-hill-loop

Hike Description:  We will hike as a group to the summit and weather permitting will break out ropes and get in some practice. Things to review prior is tying into the rope with a re-woven figure 8 knot through your harness. We will review the concepts of seated belay and rappelling. You will also get practice flaking out the rope and butterfly coiling it back up.

Pay attention to hot spots that are developing on shoulders, hips and feet. Pack weight adjustment and preemptive blister care is key to success! Please let us know if you are having issues so we can help you remedy them.

One  of the goals of these hikes is to get you all ready for a climb this  summer.  Slowly increasing your pack weight each week will help with conditioning.  One of the best ways to do this is to bring extra water bottles that can be dumped out if you are struggling. One liter is 2.2 lbs! 

The instructors are all here to help you through this process so pick our brains, ask us to re-explain something you didn’t quite get from the previous week or just ask us what our favorite climbs are. It’s also a great time to  see  what other people eat and get some new ideas. Most of all we want to make this a good learning experience for each one of  you.  Your feedback is appreciated as we move through skills and topics!

See the link for the Cook Hill hike on Oregonhikers.org:  Cook Hill Loop Hike - Hiking in Portland, Oregon and Washington (oregonhikers.org). 

Cook Hill, just to the east of Dog Mountain, serves as the latter’s poor cousin, but if you want solitude and an abundance of wildflower species in the spring, this is the place to go to avoid Dog’s crowds although it cannot quite replicate the spectacular meadow displays. The hike is all on unofficial trails and old road beds on public land save for a section of the ridge at the Cook Hill Saddle, which belongs to Broughton Lumber. There are two meadows to cross, a steep smaller meadow and the lengthy summit meadow, which has seen some grazing in the past. While all of the slopes were logged sometime in the 20th century, the forest wildflowers match those of the meadows in abundance and diversity. Note that the trail section which leads to the summit, constructed by Gorge activist Russ Jolley, can disappear in places as new growth engulfs it in the spring. The first time you're here, hike the loop counterclockwise as described to avoid the chance of losing Russ Jolley’s trail. When you return, you can go clockwise to get full frontal views of the Gorge as you descend from the summit of Cook Hill. There is no signage, but the routes are cleared by volunteers, usually every year.

Cross Cook-Underwood Road and walk west on Jackson Road 0.2 miles below a hillside of oaks and grassy meadows. Past the End County Road sign, the pavement ends: keep straight to a fork, where you go right into the woods past an open gate with a No Trespassing sign that you can ignore. Note the piles of junk on your right. Switchback and exit the Douglas-fir forest to cross a grassy slope above a water tank. Views open up to the Columbia River and the Oregon side of the Gorge. Switchback again to get more views and then enter a mixed woodland of Douglas-fir and big-leaf maple. After a third switchback, head up more steeply and swing left. The road bed heads up above a steep gully with a rushing stream. At a break in the trees, go left to view a small waterfall and cascade. Cross the creek – at this point you have risen above the worst of the poison oak although you will notice a few little plants farther up. A trail detours from the road at a fallen tree. Back on the road track, keep rising in a dense Douglas-fir plantation below a talus slope. Cross the creek again and reach the Cook Hill Saddle-Cook Hill Summit Trail Junction, which has a small cairn.

Keep straight (right) here to pass above a small spring and walk on a long-abandoned road track studded with 40-50 year-old Douglas-firs. The verges of the path are carpeted with violets, candy flower, and Dutchman’s breeches. In a patch of cow parsnip, which will become towering plants in the summer, go right to leave the road bed and shortly reach another road bed. Go right here and soon head up the slope, make a traverse, and reach Cook Hill’s steep lower meadow. Get a spectacular view across to Mount Defiance, Starvation Creek, and east to the Hood River valley. Balsamroot, buttercup, and lupine bloom in the meadow mid-spring. Cross the meadow by angling up to the left and finding the trail where it reenters the woods at the top of the meadow. Keep rising less steeply in a carpet of Solomon plume. Make a traverse through a thicket of vine maple; after this, angle up to get glimpses of Dog Mountain through the trees. Enter a small meadow, where the trail gets lost momentarily. Head up to the right between two Douglas-firs and reenter coniferous forest for a short spell. Emerge at Cook Hill’s extensive summit meadow, which blooms with prairie violet, prairie star, larkspur, and sedge in the spring. Unlike the lower meadow, this meadow was grazed until the year 2000. Get views to Dog Mountain, Mount Defiance, and Mount Hood. Keep to the meadow, passing through a gap in a line of Douglas-firs and angle up to the right. Stay below the trees that stand along the summit ridge. The meadow gets rockier: this area becomes a vast display of grass widows in early spring. Near the top of the ridge, look for a small gap in the trees which will take you in to the ridge crest and the viewless summit.

From here, walk down the ridge and emerge at the meadow. Drop down steeply and then angle to the right to enter a young Douglas-fir plantation. Reach a road bed that leads along the ridge crest on a carpet of wild strawberry. You can get good views of Mount Adams from a couple of places here. Reach the first communication tower and walk around it to the left. Finally, attain the open saddle area, which is crossed by a wide powerline corridor and has two more radio facilities on its north end. This is the end of the Bunker Keys Road and the Cook Hill Saddle. Look west to Wind Mountain, Table Mountain, and other Gorge peaks; the view east is dominated by Mount Adams.

Look down to your left to see a road heading back into the forest. Where the road forks, keep right and descend through a vine maple thicket. At the next junction, keep right again and continue to descend. As you go down, there are a couple of small detours around blowdown. Pass a slope of big-leaf maples on your left and then emerge from the forest to cross a wide talus slope dotted with gnarly old trees. After reentering the forest, keep left at a grassy landing and descend to reach the Cook Hill Saddle-Cook Hill Summit Trail Junction, where you go right to return to Jackson Road.

Directions:

Drive I-84 east to Exit 44 for Cascade Locks and Stevenson. After exiting, go 0.4 miles, and turn right for the Bridge of the Gods Toll Bridge and Stevenson. Drive 0.7 miles to pay the $3.00 toll, cross the Columbia River, and reach the junction with Highway 14. Turn right (east) here for Stevenson and Kennewick, and drive 14.9 miles, passing through Stevenson, before making a left turn onto Cook-Underwood Road for Mill A and Willard. Go 0.3 miles and, just after passing Jackson Road on your left, stop in the large parking pullout on your right.  

NOTE – the Cook Hill TH is just a couple of miles east of the Dog Mt. TH. Driving time from Portland is about 70 minutes.

Google Maps to Trailhead: 45°42'43.3"N 121°39'13.0"W