Introducing the Stars

The following paragraphs are extracted from Section 4 of the draft Master Plan. For more complete information, please review the source document. In the draft Master Plan, Denver's Mountain Parks were classified into four tiers based on similar qualities. See page 78 for more information on "The Stars". You may use our Survey Form to provide comments on this or other parts of the draft plan.

Discovering the Mountain Parks

Early this summer, Denver Parks & Recreation conducted two focus groups to test awareness of the Denver Mountain Parks. Here's the net result:

When asked what they know about the Mountain Parks, people were clueless. Twelve out of 13 people said they had never "heard of them." But when shown a map, everyone came alive. Stories of Red Rocks on a Saturday morning, fishing at Echo Lake, or just a hike. What did the group recommend? "Let people know they exist."

—Master Plan, Section 3, page 40

Many of Colorado’s most significant landscapes are within the Denver Mountain Parks system. The uplifting sandstone ridges of Red Rocks Park, the steep world-class powder slopes of Winter Park, the resting place of Buffalo Bill, and the high mountain lakes of Mount Evans are icons of the American West, and all are part of the Denver Mountain Park system. These iconic landscapes draw more than one million visitors to Denver and the region each year...

The Stars are those parks within the system that attract the largest crowds, offer the most stunning experiences, suffer the greatest impacts to their natural and cultural resources, and generate the most income.

• Red Rocks Park: Just minutes from downtown Denver, colossal rock outcrops rise dramatically from the rolling high plains prairie. These tilted red sandstone formations are Red Rocks Park, the most famous of the Denver Mountain Parks. Created eons ago by the deposition of material and the upheaval of earth, Red Rocks Park is a special place of geologic, historic, cultural, and scenic value. The Park’s best known feature is the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre that lies in the naturally formed bowl between Creation and Ship Rocks.... Red Rocks Park’s iconic natural setting offers an outdoor experience that is without parallel. The spectacular rock formations and world famous Amphitheatre attract local, state-wide, national and international visitors. Most visit the Amphitheatre, some travel to the Trading Post, and a few picnic and hike.
  
  
• Lookout Mountain Park: [This park] has it all—a panoramic view stretching from the Continental Divide to downtown Denver, acres of wooded foothills, the grave and historic collection of Buffalo Bill—(a Western legend), mountain meadows, architecturally significant stone and log structures, a twisting scenic mountain road, and the Beaver Brook Trail. The area is divided into a picnic area to the west below the summit and the Buffalo Bill “campus” to the east with Pahaska Tepee and Buffalo Bill Museum.
  
  
• Echo Lake Park: When Denver began building the Squaw Pass Road in 1918, they envisioned connecting to a ‘skyline drive to the summit of Mount Evans.’... Denver acquired the lands for Echo Lake Park in what they envisioned to be a ‘scenic wonderland without peer, (standing) as the gateway to national parks of the nation.' ... The centerpiece of Echo Lake Park is the lake itself. It is a wide and long natural lake, situated in a valley at the base of Goliath Mountain, immediately adjacent to State Highway 103. Echo Lake Park is the only mountain park within the subalpine zone.
  
  
• Summit Lake Park: At 12,830 feet in elevation, Summit Lake Park is the highest of the mountain parks and one of the most scenic. It is nestled at the bottom of a high alpine cirque, located about one half mile north and 1,300 feet below the summit of Mount Evans, and is the only Denver Mountain Park in the alpine zone. Summit Lake Park supports a rare array of alpine vegetation that survives the extreme conditions and short growing season. Rocky soils are interspersed with alpine tundra—a diverse mix of low-lying grasses, perennial sedges, wildflowers, and mosses.... Summit Lake Park is only accessible from late spring until early autumn, along the Mount Evans Road that begins at Echo Lake. The park is entirely surrounded by Arapaho National Forest lands.
  
  
• Winter Park: As a world-class ski resort attracting visitors from around the world, Winter Park Ski Resort is probably the most unique Denver Mountain Park. Set at the base of the Continental Divide in the Frasier Valley in Grand County, Winter Park has a vast terrain across three inter-connected mountains and an alpine bowl. The ski area offers more than 134 designated runs on 2,886 acres, and runs the important National Sports Center for the Disabled. Winter Park Ski Resort is on city-owned land purchased by Denver in 1939-1940, and is managed through a long-term lease (through 2078) between the City & County of Denver and IntraWest Corporation.

You can find more on each of these Stars in Section 4c of the Master Plan.

For an overview of the park tiers described in the draft Master Plan, see Four Tiers of Mountain Parks, posted below.