Northern Bryce
Boat Mesa
A broad summit south of Fairyland Point, capped by harder rock above a landscape cut into fins and hollows.
MeasuredThis page explains a named landscape feature. A model position is not an established trail, parking place or permission to approach the formation.
Conditions & official access sources · Compare walking distance and climb
DerivedBoat Mesa: the 2018 USGS lidar surface, seen at an angle from above. The site’s collection has no modern photograph of this place; surface color and lighting are drawn, not measured.What you’re looking at
Boat Mesa rises south of Fairyland Point. A fairly gentle upper surface gives way to steeper margins cut into fins and hollows.1,2
NPS describes a resistant conglomerate cap above the Claron rocks that form the surrounding hoodoos. Across Bryce, NPS explains, harder caprock layers preserve softer rock below as the rim erodes.1,3
The Fairyland Loop circles the mesa, above and below the rim. The 2018 lidar measures the shape of its slopes; it cannot show where the conglomerate meets the rock below or how thick the cap is.4,1
Turn it in 3D
Turn the surface, cut a section across it, and compare the aerial color with the laser returns the aircraft recorded. The 3D view loads only when you open it.
Section and skyline
DerivedBoat Mesa: a wider piece of the plateau. The larger crop gives context to the relief. Compare it with Wall Street in relative-height mode to see both horizontal extent and relief without stretching either section to fit. No geologic contact is inferred from the line. A 1024 m line at equal horizontal and vertical scale; heights 2,237–2,459 m.4 Section data (JSON) · Drawing (SVG)
Walks from here
- Fairyland LoopAround Boat Mesa, above and below the rim. NPS: 8 mi, 1,900 ft of climbing, strenuous.
Trail figures are the National Park Service’s. They are not current conditions; check NPS notices before a hike.
Living things here
Habitats: Rocky breaks & rim. The mesa’s margins are exposed breaks, where NPS notes that rocky ridges support trees adapted to difficult growing sites.9,10
Living Bryce entries for these habitats:
Care
NPS asks visitors to stay on trails, avoid climbing hoodoos, leave natural objects where they are and avoid feeding or disturbing wildlife. Walking toward a hoodoo’s base can disturb the clay-rich slopes that help protect its foundations, so enjoy the formations from established trails and overlooks.7,8
Read without 3D
The 3D view covers a square about 1,024 metres on a side. Heights in the lidar returns range from 2,222 m (7,290 ft) to 2,468 m (8,097 ft). The surface is built from what an aircraft could see from above: undersides, overhangs and narrow gaps are not reconstructed.
Data and sources
Datasets
Sources
- National Park Service · Fairyland Point · 2024-10-10
- US Geological Survey / National Geospatial Program · USGS geographic names: northern Bryce landforms
- National Park Service · NPS: Life of Hoodoos wayside (Sunrise Point) · 2023-09-22
- USGS data; public Entwine organization maintained by Hobu · USGS 3DEP LiDAR Point Clouds · 2018 acquisition; LAS published 2019
- US Geological Survey · USGS Lidar Point Cloud UT Southern QL1 2018 12SUG9562 LAS 2019 metadata · 2019-06-03
- USDA FPAC / Farm Service Agency · USDA conterminous US NAIP imagery service · 2024 Utah acquisition, exact flight dates per crop
- National Park Service · Protect the Hoodoos · 2018-10-16
- National Park Service · Hiking · 2024-10-11
- National Park Service, Bryce Canyon · Plants · April 30, 2023
- National Park Service, Bryce Canyon · Limber Pine · March 3, 2025