Farview Point

Farview Point is a roadside overlook at mile 10.25 of Bryce Canyon's 18-mile Southern Scenic Drive, one of nine viewpoints along the route. Stop for a broader, longer view of the plateau country; this is more about distance than the tight hoodoo clusters at Bryce Amphitheater. The parking lot sits beside the overlook, which is listed as wheelchair accessible and has a restroom.

To the east, Paria Valley opens toward the Grand Staircase, with Table Cliff Plateau across it. On clear days you can pick out Navajo Mountain roughly 90 miles away and the Henry Mountains about 84 to 86 miles distant. Southward, hoodoos edge the start of Rainbow Point amphitheater, above pine and fir forest about 1,000 feet below. For a layered photo, frame a rim pine against the orange formations and the forested drop.

Table Cliff Plateau rises to around 10,000 feet and is capped by the same Claron formation, also called the Pink Cliffs, that erodes into Bryce's hoodoos. The Paunsaugunt fault runs along the park's eastern edge; uplift and faulting leave an elevation change of nearly 2,000 feet between the plateau and the country beyond it.

Navajo Mountain is a laccolith: molten rock pushed upward and swelled the rock above it, then cooled underground instead of breaking through as a volcano. The Henry Mountains share that origin. Erosion has stripped away their overlying rock and exposed the harder igneous cores, so the distant peaks are part of the same long story as the cliffs around you.

A separate viewpoint, Piracy Point, is a short walk north from Farview's parking lot on a flat, unpaved path about 0.15 mile long. It's a useful extra angle if you want to stretch your legs; don't confuse it with the roadside Farview overlook. The accessibility listing applies to Farview, while the Piracy spur is unpaved.

Farview sits near the transition from ponderosa pine to mixed-conifer forest. Look for showy goldeneye and shrubby cinquefoil among the flowers. Osprey have fished at nearby Tropic Reservoir, about two air miles away, and California condors have been recorded at southern Bryce overlooks, though sightings there have been rare.