To reach Cotton Mountain, follow US Route 3 South from Exit 24 off I-93 for about 4.6 miles to Holderness. Turn left on NH Route 113 and continue about 1.1 miles to a parking area with a kiosk on the left. If you need to purchase a sandwich, broasted chicken, pizza, drinks, etc., go past where you should turn left onto Rt. 113 and look for a gas station and a store about a 1/2 mile up the road on the right. If you would like lunch or dinner, we highly recommend The Common Man restaurant in Ashland. You will pass right by it if you appoach the cache from Exit 24.
The AMC book, Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide, says that the Cotton Mountain Trail "provides access to a ledge with a fine view located on a south spur of Cotton Mountain and connects with the south end of the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail. It has been recently reconstructed by the SLA [Squam Lakes Association]." The trail "follows a dirt road through a brushy gravel pit [pictured above], curving right at 0.2 mi. into an open area, then left (cairns) to a SLA signpost, where the road bears left again and ends in 15 yd. at the top of a bank. Here the trail turns right into the woods (sign) and ascends, crossing an old road in 60 yd. It climbs rather steeply up the east slope of the mountain, circling around the south side to reach the summit of a spur and the jct. with the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail. A few yards before the junction a spur leads 20 yd. right with a view over Squam Lake." The cache is in this general area. You will need to do a bit of bushwhacking.
Although the cache is not totally "snow friendly," it can probably be located with a few inches of snow on the ground.