Piracy Point

Piracy Point provides a view looking north down Swamp Canyon

NPS Photo / Peter Densmore

Quick Facts

Location:

At the end of a short trail leading from Farview Point

Significance:

One of 9 viewpoints along the Southern Scenic Drive

Piracy Point has been said to take its name from the buttes that might resemble pirate ships sailing alongside the rim, but it's more likely that the name refers to a geomorphological process that is soon to take place here. This point overlooks Swamp Canyon and the Sheep Creek drainage system to the north and the Willis Creek drainage system that collects run-off south from here. The broad, sloping valley to the north of you currently drains to Sheep Creek, but on the other side of the cliffs right of it, tributaries of Willis Creek are steadily encroaching. Someday soon, the Willis Creek drainage will begin to divert water through a process called "stream piracy". This is when a river drainage system or watershed is diverted from its own bed, and flows instead down the bed of a neighboring stream. Swamp Canyon is also one of the only places in the park where water flowing on top of the plateau is diverted over the rim to the east (rather than travelling west as part of the Sevier River).

This is also the transitional zone between Ponderosa Pine Forests and the Spruce-Fir forest. Watch for representatives of both plant and animal communities. Here you might find flowers such as Showy Goldeneye and Shrubby Cinquefoil. Also watch for Osprey. If you are surprised to find fish eaters like Osprey living in a desert-like environment you're not the only one. Not too far from here nest a pair of Osprey that catch and carry fish from Tropic Reservoir - a distance of two air miles!

Trails

A very short and flat but unpaved trail leads south back to Farview Point.