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United States United States scenic viewpoint

Observation Point

You can see 124 km from here, looking south-west.

Calculating the panorama…

Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.

The view

Up to 124 km away.

Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.

73out of 100

Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).

  • 124 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-west
  • 91%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
  • 15Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
  • 1,959 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint

The 15 peaks you can name from here

From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.

Cable Mountain2,115 m · 1.4 km · south-eastDeertrap Mountain2,084 m · 4.7 km · southTwin Brothers2,091 m · 5.9 km · southBridge Mountain2,074 m · 8.5 km · southThree Patriarchs3,138 m · 5.2 km · south-westBee Hive2,099 m · 7.4 km · south-westLady Mountain2,104 m · 3.7 km · south-westMeridian Tower2,236 m · 7.6 km · south-westAltar of Sacrifice2,287 m · 9.3 km · south-westMount Majestic2,118 m · 2.4 km · south-westCastle Dome2,150 m · 3.1 km · south-westCathedral Mountain2,112 m · 1.7 km · west

From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.

The sun

The best sunsets are in June and in September.

When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.

  1. Jansouth-west20 min before the sea-level sunset53%
  2. Febwest26 min before the sea-level sunset51%
  3. Marwest16 min before the sea-level sunset53%
  4. Aprwest26 min before the sea-level sunset59%
  5. Maywest22 min before the sea-level sunset65%
  6. Junnorth-west24 min before the sea-level sunset78%
  7. Julnorth-west24 min before the sea-level sunset62%
  8. Augwest24 min before the sea-level sunset70%
  9. Sepwest20 min before the sea-level sunset77%
  10. Octwest26 min before the sea-level sunset70%
  11. Novsouth-west20 min before the sea-level sunset62%
  12. Decsouth-west16 min before the sea-level sunset49%
  • Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
  • Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
  • %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).

The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.

The place

Observation Point.

Mountain and scenic viewpoint in Zion National Park in Washington County, Utah, United States

Observation Point is a scenic viewpoint in United States, 1,959 m above the sea.

On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 124 km away, looking south-west.

15 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Altar of Sacrifice (2,287 m), 9 km away.

The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 91% of the circle.

The skies are clearest in June and in September.

Observation Point from East Mesa Trail - panoramio
Aaron Zhu · CC BY-SA 3.0

Get there and stay

Plan the visit

A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The viewpoint and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.

Observation Point seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 9other viewpoints within 5 kmObservation Point, View on the Patriarchs, Scout Lookout and 6 more
  • 23named peaks within 5 kmAngels Landing, Cable Mountain, Castle Dome and 20 more
  • 14marked trails within 3 kmWest Rim Trail, East Rim Trail, Kayenta Trail and 11 more
  • 8shelters and huts within 5 km
  • 18car parks within 3 km
  • 1restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • 26campsites within 10 kmCampsite 2, Campsite 1, Campsite 3 and 23 more
  • 21places to stay within 10 kmZion Lodge, Cable Mountain Lodge, Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens and 18 more
  • cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
  • visitor centres within 5 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

What you see from Observation Point, and what is near.

Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.

Peakyas95 mountains within 25 km
Three Patriarchs3,138 m · 5.1 kmMeridian Tower2,236 m · 7.5 kmAltar of Sacrifice2,287 m · 9.1 kmThe Witch Head2,237 m · 9.5 kmNorth Guardian Angel2,254 m · 11 kmPine Valley Peak2,254 m · 14 kmLava Point2,413 m · 14 kmRed Butte2,257 m · 20 km
Darkskyas4 dark-sky places within 30 km
The NarrowsBortle 2 · 3.2 kmZion National ParkBortle 2 · 9.4 kmThe SubwayBortle 2 · 10 kmZion CanyonBortle 2 · 14 km

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The view, as people saw it.

Zion Canyon from Observation Point trail
Kognos · CC BY-SA 4.0
Observation Point, Zion
Alaina McDavid · CC BY-SA 2.0
Observation Point - Zion Canyon 2010-12-31
Sander Heinsalu · CC BY-SA 2.0

Other viewpoints nearby.

Observation Point

United States

  • 73Viewyas Score
  • 124 kmFarthest ridge
  • 15Peaks in view
  • 1,959 mAltitude

Vermilion Cliffs

United States · 40 km

  • 66Viewyas Score
  • 96 kmFarthest ridge
  • 4Peaks in view
  • 1,746 mAltitude

See the guide

Big Springs Lookout Tower

United States · 93 km

  • 83Viewyas Score
  • 193 kmFarthest ridge
  • 39Peaks in view
  • 2,414 mAltitude

See the guide

Pink Cliffs

United States · 66 km

  • 66Viewyas Score
  • 189 kmFarthest ridge
  • 8Peaks in view
  • 2,629 mAltitude

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q49058143) · CC0
SunJ. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms
Peaks in viewPeakyas (Wikidata, CC0)
Panorama and altitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
CloudsNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Darkskyas, Canyonyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.