Organ Needle
Organ Needle rises to 2,708 m in New Mexico. Organ Peak stands 2,668 m to the southeast, 1.3 miles off. The nearest named place is Minerva's Temple, a peak 0.2 miles away. El Camino Real passes 14 miles off. 147 named places lie within 25 miles, 40 of them named summits.
The story
Organ Needle is the highest point of the Organ Mountains in the south-central part of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It lies in Doña Ana County, 13 miles (20,921 m) east-northeast of Las Cruces and 4 miles (6 km) southwest of White Sands, headquarters of the White Sands Missile Range. It is at the southeast end of a narrow ridge of vertically jointed granite (more specifically, quartz monzonite) called The Needles. Organ Needle is one of the most dramatic peaks in the state. True to its name, it is a steep, pointed summit. Moreover, it rises 4,000 feet (1,220 m) above the edge of the Tularosa Basin to the northeast in only 2 miles (3.2 km), and 5,100 feet (1,554 m) above Las Cruces, giving it as large and as steep a degree of local relief as any peak in the state, including Big Hatchet Peak, Sandia Crest, and Shiprock. Climbing Organ Needle involves tricky route-finding, a vertical gain of about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) and a difficult scramble (class 3+ or 4).
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q7101760, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 2,708 m
How to reach it
- 13.5 mi off the El Camino Real, National
147 named places within 25 miles
- Dripping Springs Natural Area: 1.7 mi
- Bicentennial Grove: 4.6 mi
- Volunteer Park: 4.6 mi
- Missile Park: 5.6 mi
- Organ Town Square: 6.0 mi
- Minerva's Temple: 0.2 mi
- The Needles: 0.9 mi
- Sugarloaf Peak: 1.1 mi
- Organ Peak: 1.3 mi
- Baldy Peak: 1.6 mi
- Rock House: 2.5 mi
- Topp Hut: 2.6 mi
- George Russell Beasley House Remains: 3.7 mi
- Issac House: 3.9 mi
- Cistern: 3.9 mi
- White Sands Missile Range Museum: 5.6 mi
- V-2 Display Annex: 5.6 mi
- Space Murals Museum: 5.9 mi
- New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum: 9.8 mi
- NMSU University Art Museum: 11.9 mi
- Nike Missile: 5.5 mi
- NMSU: 11.3 mi
- The Traders: 11.9 mi
- Class of 1931 Commemorative: 11.9 mi
- The Bent of Tau Beta Pi: 12.1 mi
- La Cueva: 2.0 mi
- Pat Garrett's Grave: 13.4 mi
- World's Largest Chili Pepper: 14.5 mi
- Sandia Gulch Begin: 18.3 mi
- Sandia Gulch End: 18.8 mi
- Filmore Spring: 0.8 mi
- Middle Spring: 1.6 mi
- Dripping Springs: 1.6 mi
- Mine House Spring: 2.7 mi
- The Tooth: 0.6 mi
- Southern Comfort Wall: 2.1 mi
- South Picnic Area: 23.3 mi
- North Picnic Area: 23.4 mi
- Fillmore waterfall: 1.4 mi
- Rest Area I-10 (West Bound): 23.4 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 25 miles of Organ Needle. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organ Peak | SE 144° | 2,668 m | 1.3 mi |
| The Needles | NW 317° | 2,565 m | 0.9 mi |
| Baldy Peak | S 177° | 2,564 m | 1.6 mi |
| Granite Peak | ESE 111° | 2,554 m | 2.6 mi |
| San Andres Peak | N 4° | 2,459 m | 22.9 mi |
| Sugarloaf Peak | E 86° | 2,443 m | 1.1 mi |
| Rabbit Ears | NNW 330° | 2,440 m | 1.8 mi |
| Baylor Peak | NNW 345° | 2,337 m | 3.4 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:11 | 18:46 | 19:18 |
| June solstice | 06:01 | 19:41 | 20:17 |
| September equinox | 06:55 | 18:32 | 19:04 |
| December solstice | 07:04 | 16:28 | 17:06 |
Local time (America/Denver).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: Mar–Jun, Sep–Nov.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 44 | 49 | 55 | 62 | 71 | 80 | 82 | 81 | 75 | 64 | 52 | 44 |
| Precip in | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — State Univ, 12 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 899828 — Organ Needle, Doña Ana County, New Mexico.
OpenStreetMap element node/357586343
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