Hike Needle Benchmark (Mountain Home Range Highpoint) Mountain Home Range BLM, UT

May 17, 2021 — Needle Benchmark, the high point of the Mountain Home Range, is a remote peak in Utah's West Desert. It's a surprisingly pretty one, especially compared to some of the other bigger peaks in this area. It's a long drive on decent roads. Head west off UT-21 here (38.6316, -113.85488), continue west here (38.61711, -113.87806), bear right here (38.60556, -113.91154), then turn left here (38.61586, -113.92643). Follow this road south on the obvious road, keeping left at this one possibly confusing junction (38.58218, -113.95639). It would be hard for 2WD to get past here (38.53557, -113.96473) due to one rougher section, but it's a really pretty road so the additional 2.5 miles required to get to the trailhead wouldn't be such a bad walk if you can't make it.

I parked along the ridge, but could have made it farther in my car. However, the ridgeline was really delightful and I preferred to hike it than drive all the way to the end of the road. Honestly it's probably the prettiest part of the hike, so I recommend you do the same. If you have time to kill, you might even consider parking earlier along the road than I did. It's a meadowy and sweeping ridgeline, and I even saw wild horses! For those looking to get the peak and save time, you can drive the road to its to the end, cutting off about a mile round trip of this hike. The road ends at a small radio tower.

Past the radio tower is a thin rock outcrop that extends south along the ridge. It's really pretty when viewed from here, but of course isn't part of the route. Instead, I'd have to keep to the right of the feature and side-hill. I dropped down a few hundred feet to a notch between the bump where the radio tower stands and the thin outcrop. A few cairns marked the way, keeping this section Class 2/2+. I headed to the right of the outcrop. You'll want to hug the cliff face as much as possible to avoid excessive side-hilling. However, initially I recommend dropping about 50 feet below the ridge since there are a few ledges that cliff out, but the cliff pretty quickly becomes just one solid mass that's easy to stay close to without risk of having to backtrack. The terrain at the cliff's base is actually pretty easy travel. On its south side, I wrapped around on some light scree and descended a hundred feet to a saddle between the rock outcrop and the summit to the southeast (Class 2). It was easy walking to the summit from here.