Picnic area · Bryce Canyon National Park
Picnic tables beside a visible story of forest recovery.
Overview
Map
Plan your stop
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Bryce Canyon Tour Guide
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Bryce Canyon National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this place
Whiteman Bench Picnic Area: Life After Fire“You're approaching Whiteman Bench Picnic Area, with tables among the scars of the two thousand nine Bridge Fire. Lightning started the fire that burned this stretch of forest.”
Plays as you drive up to Whiteman Bench Picnic Area in the Parkwolf Bryce Canyon Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
“Super fun and useful app! We especially enjoyed the guide as we drove through Bryce Canyon National Park.”
Guide
Whiteman Bench Picnic Area is a roadside stop at mile 9.5 of the 18-mile Scenic Southern Drive, with picnic tables in the 2009 Bridge Fire burn area. It makes a useful meal break and a close look at forest recovery; its appeal is modest if you are not stopping to picnic. The area is listed as wheelchair accessible, though the route to the tables and surface are not described. No site-specific water or restroom details are provided, so bring what you need.
The Bridge Fire was Bryce Canyon's largest fire, and the visible burn stretches about 1.5 miles along Whiteman Bench between Swamp Canyon and Farview Point. From the pullout, burned ground, standing dead trees and surviving pines show different parts of the forest's recovery. The fire started with lightning in 2009 and entered the park about a month later.
The standing dead trees are called snags. They provide habitat for woodpeckers, nuthatches, owls and small mammals, which help disperse seeds as the forest regenerates. Look for signs of new growth among the snags and surviving pines to see the change at ground level.
Wildlife
15 sightingsWapitiMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
50 sightingsUtah Prairie DogMost seen around 9 AMSighting map
331 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
118 sightingsPronghornMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
41 sightingsTurkey VultureMost seen around noonSighting map
44 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Bryce Canyon. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
Keep exploring
ModerateWhiteman Connecting Trail2 mi · 1.5 hr · 0.5 mi awayA wooded descent reaches the Under-the-Rim backcountry trail.
ModerateSwamp Canyon Connector Trail2.1 mi · 1.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayA short, steep drop takes you below the rim into piney canyon.
ModerateSheep Creek Trail5.8 mi · 4 hr · 2.6 mi awayFollow the cliffs down to a shaded campsite, then climb back out.
ModerateSwamp Canyon Loop4 mi · 3.5 hr · 2.6 mi awayA quieter loop through meadow, forest, and red-rock canyon country.
ModerateAgua Canyon Connecting Trail1.6 mi · 1 hr · 4 mi awayA steep, rocky link from Ponderosa Point to Under-the-Rim.
Sight · 0.9 mi awayPiracy PointA short walk to wooded views and an unusual watershed story.
Sight · 1 mi awayFarview PointSee hoodoos give way to the long views of plateau country.
Food · 1 mi awayHoodoo FoodsA handy sandwich stop on the scenic drive.
Sight · 2.1 mi awayNatural BridgeAn 85-foot arch frames a pine-filled canyon.
Sight · 2.6 mi awaySwamp CanyonSee Mud and Noon Canyon Buttes from a quick roadside pullout.
Sight · 3.2 mi awayAgua CanyonEye-level hoodoos, then a long view across the Grand Staircase.
Sight · 4 mi awayPonderosa CanyonA quick pull-off above an amphitheater, forest, and far-off plateaus.
Picnic area · 4.1 mi awayCCC Picnic AreaA forested picnic break with a little CCC history nearby.Parkwolf’s Bryce Canyon ranking
The audio tour guide for the drive, plus offline maps, trails, and wildlife heatmaps for when the signal drops.
