The Hearts of the Denver Mountain Parks system are large special parks that exhibit their own individualistic characteristics and provide unique settings with special experiences. The Hearts are the core of the Mountain Park system. Each Heart has its own distinct natural setting, from forested hillsides and open mountain meadows to the high plains prairie where bison related to the Yellowstone herds of the late 19th century still graze. Beautiful, rustic buildings and shelters are integral to each of the Hearts.
Genesee Park: At more than 2,400 acres, Genesee Park is the largest mountain park, offering the greatest diversity of experiences in the system. Families can hold a reunion and picnic at the large CCC historic shelter and picnic area near the summit. Visitors can camp overnight at Chief Hosa Campground; kids get an introduction to the woods in special programs.
At Chief Hosa Lodge, visitors experience major life events such as weddings or other celebrations.
Travelers stop and enjoy viewing the bison herd along I-70, or venture to the top of Genesee Mountain where the panoramic view connecting mountain and plains is spectacular. Genesee Park is the gateway to the Denver Mountain Parks system. Its size and location close to the center of the system, proximity to Denver, and its direct access to the region’s largest highway give Genesee Park a special prominence.
Dedisse Park: Denver acquired Dedisse Ranch in 1919. By 1928, the city had transformed the western valley into the 18-hole Evergreen Golf Course, complete with its Keys on the Greens clubhouse, and built a dam to create a lake... The beauty of Evergreen Lake with its perfect reflection of the surrounding mountains was touted as enriching quaint downtown Evergreen. 
Dedisse Park’s 420 acres are bisected by Upper Bear Creek road. Most of the acreage consists of forested ridges and open meadows in the foothills vegetation and habitat zone. The park is rich in ecological diversity and is dominated by mixed ponderosa pine forests with open grassy clearings and shrub lands on south-facing slopes.
Newton Park: Originally the Newton family ranch, [this park] has three distinct valleys where large shelters, potable water, electricity, restrooms, and informal fields of grasses offer private group retreats with spectacular views to the south. Rolling hills separate the valleys, and the northernmost hill rises to a craggy, unnamed peak on the park’s northwestern edge that is highly visible from U.S. 285. Each valley is a separate picnic site, popular for family and company gatherings, and for special events, especially on warm weekends in the spring, summer, and fall. Sites are available by permit only; call 720.913.0700 for reservations.
Daniels Park: The only Denver Mountain Park in Douglas County, 1000-acre Daniels Park is characterized by its unique sandstone rim rock setting, historic ranch, bison herd, and spectacular view. A trip along Daniels Park Road affords one of the most significant views of the Colorado Front Range Mountains and the foothill valleys available in our area. The broad 100-mile view extends from Pike’s Peak to the Mummy Range near the Wyoming border and, to the north, to downtown Denver. [Near the] southern entrance is a prominently placed stone shelter that overlooks the mesa landscape....
Daniels Park is an important landscape within a larger regional open space system of 11,000 acres that protects the unique rim rock landscape that stretches from Sedalia to C470 in Highlands Ranch. The Park is split into two parcels by Daniels Park Road and the mesa rim: a dramatic landscape of canyons, low mesas, and hills covered with dense Gambel's oak, ponderosa pine, and an understory of grasses and forbs [below the rim]; and on the mesa top, a rolling mixed prairie grassland.
For an overview of the park tiers described in the draft Master Plan, see Four Tiers of Mountain Parks, posted below.
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