South of Hanksville and north of Bullfrog Marina at Lake Powell, the Henry Mountains are one of the most remote and least visited mountain ranges in the lower 48 states. Their five peaks — the highest, Mount Ellen, reaching over 3,500 metres — were supposedly the last mountains in the contiguous United States to be named by European explorers, and they still feel undiscovered.
The range is managed by the BLM out of the Hanksville office, and it is rare to encounter another person in the backcountry. The landscape shifts from desert scrub and sandstone at the base to aspen groves and conifer forest at the summits. A herd of free-roaming bison — descended from animals introduced in the 1940s — inhabits the slopes, one of very few genetically pure herds in the country.
Access is by dirt roads that require high clearance and can become impassable when wet. The Lonesome Beaver Campground on Mount Ellen is the main developed site. The nearest services are in Hanksville, a tiny outpost that is itself a destination for desert lovers.