Cooper Knoll

Cooper Knoll is a basaltic cinder cone on the Markagunt Plateau, sitting near the base of Panguitch Lake in Dixie National Forest at roughly 9,000 feet. It's one of more than two dozen cinder cones and lava flows scattered across this stretch of plateau between Panguitch Lake and Navajo Lake, part of a volcanic field geologists date to around 500,000 years old. The ground here is blocky, sparsely vegetated basalt rather than open trail tread.

There's no maintained trail or trailhead at Cooper Knoll, and it isn't set up as a hiking destination — it registers mainly as a backcountry landform on forest and topographic maps, in an area otherwise known for lake fishing, cabins, and the Cooper Knoll Fire that burned nearby in 2020. If you're in the Panguitch Lake area, it's part of the volcanic scenery rather than a place with a marked route in.