Duck Creek Guide
Four overlooks along 4.6 miles of Highway 148, a visitor center that opened in 2024, and a campground in the meadow. Everything you can see from the pavement.
Cedar Breaks has four overlooks along the monument road, each with its own angle on the amphitheater. Unlike Bryce, where the viewpoints cluster around a rim trail, these are spread along 4.6 miles of Highway 148 and you drive between them. The full lap, south entrance to north, takes 45 minutes to an hour with time out of the car at each, and it is the version of Cedar Breaks most visitors see.
Everything on this page is included in the $25 vehicle entry, which is good for seven days. Parking is paved at every stop, Point Supreme and its visitor center are fully accessible, and the paved Sunset Trail links the two southern overlooks for anyone who would rather walk a mile than drive it.
Mile 0 · 10,350 ft
The original overlook, in use since the monument was created in 1933, and the one to start at. It sits beside the visitor center on a paved walk with benches, a railing and the geology signs, and it looks straight down the amphitheater. Restrooms, the park store and the 1937 cabin museum are steps away, and the Night Sky Tours meet here. The largest lot in the monument.
Mile 1 · 10,300 ft
A mile north, a small roadside lot on the western rim with an open horizon: the sunset overlook, named for the reason you would expect. The amphitheater faces west, so the evening light works the rock over for an hour before the sun reaches the ridge. The lot fills on summer weekends; be parked 45 minutes early. Our sunset and stargazing guide has sunset times for every part of the season.
Mile 2.5 · 10,461 ft
The highest overlook at 10,461 feet, 2.5 miles north of the visitor center, with a large lot. It looks down on the Chessmen, the row of formations the ridge is named for. The lot is also the Alpine Pond trailhead, and a short spur leads to a bristlecone grove on the rim, so it is the easiest place to pair a view with a walk. Vault toilets.
Mile 4.6 · 10,435 ft
The northernmost overlook, just inside the entrance from Highway 143 at about 10,435 feet, with the widest sweep of the amphitheater and a look north toward Brian Head Peak. It is the least visited of the four and the one you will most often have to yourself, which makes it the stargazers' choice on nights without a program.
The four overlooks, the visitor center, the campground and the trail points, at their National Park Service coordinates. Tap a pin for the note and the page that covers it.
Entrance station, rangers, restrooms, the park store and the 1937 cabin. The overlook is a level paved walk from the door. Start here.
Small lot on the right. The evening overlook; in daylight a five-minute stop with the amphitheater at your feet.
Big lot, vault toilets, the highest point on the road. The Chessmen below, the Alpine Pond trailhead behind you, the bristlecone spur to the left.
The widest view and the emptiest lot, just before the Highway 143 entrance. Turn around here, or continue to Brian Head and loop home through Cedar City.
About 10 minutes of driving between the ends; an hour with the stops.
The dashed line is Highway 148 through the monument, 4.6 miles from the visitor center to North View.
Cedar Breaks opened a new Visitor Contact Station at Point Supreme on August 22, 2024, built with the National Park Service Centennial Challenge program, the Zion Forever Project and Iron County. It is where you talk to a ranger, pay the entrance fee (cards only; the monument is cashless), pick up a Junior Ranger booklet, buy a pass, and browse the Zion Forever park store. In 2026 it opened May 22 and runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through mid October; ranger programs began June 1. Check the NPS basic information page for current hours.
Up the path from the new building is the old one: a one-room log cabin built in 1937 that served as the information center for decades. It now holds a self-guided exhibit on the human history of the plateau, from the Southern Paiute through the sheep ranchers and the Civilian Conservation Corps. It takes ten minutes and it is the best-kept secret at Point Supreme.
The visitor center area also has flush restrooms, a water bottle filling station (out of service while the monument's water is down; check the alert strip above), picnic tables and the Point Supreme picnic pavilion. It is the most developed corner of the monument and the right place to start.
The monument's only campground sits in the meadow across the road from Point Supreme, at 10,000 feet: 25 sites for tents and RVs, seven of them tent-only, $30 a night (half with a Senior or Access pass), and every site by reservation at recreation.gov. In 2026 it opens June 19 and closes September 18, later and earlier than the Forest Service campgrounds down the mountain because of the snow. The park calls it a comfortable place to camp in the hotter months, which is true; it also calls the wildflowers around it a feature, which is truer. No hookups, and the showers are offline with the monument's water system as of September 2026.
If you would rather have a roof at 8,455 feet and drive up for the stars, that is what we are for; our camping comparison covers the three parks' campgrounds side by side, and the area camping guide has the Forest Service options on the way up.
30 minutes: Point Supreme. Visitor center, the overlook, the cabin museum if you are quick. You will have stood at the rim.
1 to 2 hours: add Sunset View and North View, 10 to 15 minutes at each, and drive out the north entrance toward Brian Head or back the way you came. Three angles on the amphitheater and the whole road.
Half a day: all four overlooks, the Alpine Pond loop from Chessmen Ridge, and the visitor center. The full Cedar Breaks, and still back at the inn by early afternoon.
For sunset: skip Point Supreme on the way in, drive straight to Sunset View, and be parked 45 minutes before the time on our sunset page. Point Supreme is where the telescopes are afterwards.
An overlook lap pairs naturally with a Navajo Lake afternoon or a slower village day; use Plan Your Days for itinerary ideas. Compare our rooms and cabins. Cedar Breaks is close enough to visit twice in a stay, once for the overlooks and once for the sunset.
Reviewed September 2026
We visit these overlooks all season and write for guests leaving from the inn. Overlook elevations and coordinates come from the National Park Service places data, the visitor center dates from the NPS news releases on its 2024 opening and 2026 season, and the campground facts from the NPS campground record, all checked in September 2026. Hours and road access change seasonally; confirm with the NPS before you drive.
Which overlook, how many, hours, accessibility, camping, and time.
Four along Highway 148: Point Supreme by the visitor center, Sunset View a mile north, Chessmen Ridge Overlook at 2.5 miles (the highest, 10,461 feet, and the Alpine Pond trailhead), and North View at 4.6 miles, just inside the Highway 143 entrance. All four in about an hour with stops.
Point Supreme for the classic straight-down view and the facilities; Sunset View for evening light; North View for the widest panorama and the fewest people; Chessmen Ridge for the highest perch and the walk. If you can only stop once in daylight, Point Supreme; once in the evening, Sunset View.
Yes. A new visitor contact station opened at Point Supreme in August 2024 with rangers, the park store, exhibits and restrooms. It opens in late May (May 22 in 2026) and runs 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through mid October. The 1937 log cabin beside it is now a small human-history museum.
Point Supreme Overlook, the visitor center and the paved Sunset Trail to Sunset View are accessible, and the half-mile Campground Trail is level. The other overlooks have paved parking with short uneven walks to the rail. The dirt trails are not accessible.
About 45 minutes to an hour, driving the 4.6 miles of Highway 148 between them and spending 10 to 15 minutes at each. Add half an hour for the visitor center and cabin museum, and 45 to 90 minutes if you walk the Alpine Pond loop from Chessmen Ridge.
Yes. Point Supreme Campground has 25 sites for tents and RVs in the meadow across from the overlook, $30 a night, reservation only through recreation.gov. In 2026 it runs June 19 to September 18. No hookups, and the showers are down with the water system as of this writing.
The rest of the Cedar Breaks guide.
All four Cedar Breaks trails compared, from the flat meadow loop to the rim walk through 1,600-year-old bristlecone pines
See best hikes
The signature Cedar Breaks walk: wildflower meadows, a spring-fed pond, and bristlecone pines in two easy miles from Chessmen Ridge
See alpine pond trail
The best sunset spot in southern Utah and an International Dark Sky Park, with sunset times by month and how to plan an evening at Cedar Breaks
See sunset & stargazingTurn an overlook lap into a full day.
Rooms for an easy start, cabins for a slower week.
Rooms with breakfast or cabins with a kitchen at Duck Creek Village Inn, 25 minutes from the overlooks, with cool mountain evenings and the rim at your door.
