Denver began buying park property in the foothills west of the city in the 1910s and 1920s to provide places for residents and visitors to enjoy mountain scenery and outings. Today, 22 developed parks and 24 conservation areas make up the 14,000-acre Denver Mountain Parks system, originally planned by Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr. Much of the acreage is in Jefferson County, especially in the Evergreen area. During the summer months JustAroundHere.com will be featuring parks in the Evergreen area, encouraging you to check them out in your spare time.

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• Photo by S.L. White.
• Photo by John Fielder, courtesy Denver Mountain Parks Foundation.
• Photo by S.L. White
• Photo by S.L. White.
• Echo Lake Lodge, built in 1926-27. Photo by S.L. White
• Photo by S.L. White
• Photo by S.L. White.

Echo Lake

Located about halfway between Idaho Springs and the top of Mount Evans, Echo Lake Park is Denver’s only subalpine lake and developed parkland, as well as the gateway to the much-visited 14,260-foot peak. Denver purchased the land in 1920. Echo Lake Park’s 616 acres are nestled on Squaw Pass Road (Highway 103) at an elevation of 10,600 feet.

The 24-acre lake reflects the high peak to the south and provides scenic views, picnic grounds, and fishing opportunities, as well as extensive trail connections into the adjacent Mount Evans Wilderness and Arapaho National Forest. East of the lake and accessible by a lakeside trail through subalpine forests of Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir is the Echo Lake Lodge, an octagonal log structure built in 1926-27.  During the warmer months, while the road to Mount Evans is open, the historic Lodge offers refreshments and souvenirs to travelers.

Echo Lake is a natural lake created in the Late Pleistocene when glacial moraine deposits blocked the outlet of the depression in which the lake now lies. The east end of the shallow lake has partially filled with sediments and wetland vegetation, creating a fen that is an important habitat and sensitive area. This 10,000-year-old protected wetland separates the lodge from the lake.

The 1920 completion of the Squaw Pass Road from Bergen Park to Echo Lake required the collaboration of the State of Colorado, the City of Denver, and the USDA Forest Service. In the late 1920s, work continued on the high-­altitude road to Summit Lake and the top of Mt. Evans. Today known as the Mount Evans Scenic Byway, the road extends from Idaho Springs to the top of Mount Evans, and branches off from Echo Lake down Highway 103 to Bergen Park as well. [park map] [regional map] There it connects with the Lariat Loop Scenic Byway, re-creating one of Denver’s popular scenic loop drives from the late 1920s.

For more information:

Mountain Parks Attractions, City website

Forest Service trail information

Mount Evans trails

Mount Evans Scenic Byway

Picnic shelter reservations: 720-­‐913-­‐0700, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or online

Read all about it: Denver Mountain Parks: 100 Years of the Magnificent Dream, featuring photographs by John Fielder, is available at Amazon.com. Written by Wendy Rex-Atzet, Sally L. White, and Erika R. Walker, the book contains extensive history of the system, then/now photos, and a guide to the parks. Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, 2013. https://mountainparksfoundation.org/

Denver began buying park property in the foothills west of the city in the 1910s and 1920s to provide places for residents and visitors to enjoy mountain scenery and outings. Today, 22 developed parks and 24 conservation areas make up the 14,000-acre Denver Mountain Parks system, originally planned by Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr. Much of the acreage is in Jefferson County, especially in the Evergreen area. During the summer months JustAroundHere.com will be featuring parks in the Evergreen area, encouraging you to check them out in your spare time.

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Red Rocks Park

Red Rocks Park is, in some ways, the best known of Denver’s Mountain Parks, thanks to the renowned amphitheatre that is its signature attraction. Built in the late 1930s by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers, the popular amphitheatre hosts more than 100 concerts and dozens of other events each year.

Long before the completion of the amphitheatre, the dramatic rock formations attracted visitors. From the 1880s on, tourists traveled to the park to marvel at the rocks and picnic among the scenic outcrops. In 1906, when entrepreneur John Brisben Walker purchased the property, he named it the Garden of the Titans, and planned extravagant enticements to draw visitors. Although most were never executed, his scenic incline railway to the top of Mount Morrison was a major achievement. His dream of an amphitheatre became reality after the park was purchased by Denver in 1928.

Denver officials, including George Cranmer, persuaded the federal government to establish a CCC camp in the southern end of the park. Hundreds of men worked from 1936 to 1941, largely by hand, to complete the amphitheatre. In 2015, the park and its surviving CCC camp were designated a National Historic Landmark.

Today, the 804-acre park is accessible via scenic roadways as well as several hiking trails. The 1.4-mile Trading Post Trail circles the southern end of the rock formations, beginning and ending at the Trading Post. Other trails provide access to park high points and connections to adjacent Jeffco Open Space parks. The new Geologic Overlook Trail in the north part of the park provides panoramic views of the plains and foothills. Park map. 

For more information:

Mountain Parks Attractions, City website; Concert and amphitheatre information 

Read more about Red Rocks history at Historic Red Rocks. 

Picnic shelter reservations: 720-913-0700, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or online

Read all about it: Denver Mountain Parks: 100 Years of the Magnificent Dream, featuring photographs by John Fielder, is available at Amazon.com. Written by Wendy Rex-Atzet, Sally L. White, and Erika R. Walker, the book contains extensive history of the system, then/now photos, and a guide to the parks. Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, 2013. 

Denver began buying park property in the foothills west of the city in the 1910s and 1920s to provide places for residents and visitors to enjoy mountain scenery and outings. Today, 22 developed parks and 24 conservation areas make up the 14,000-acre Denver Mountain Parks system, originally planned by Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr. Much of the acreage is in Jefferson County, especially in the Evergreen area. During the summer months JustAroundHere.com will be featuring parks in the Evergreen area, encouraging you to check them out in your spare time.

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• Fall view along Bear Creek, photo by John Fielder, courtesy of Denver Mountain Parks Foundation
• Picnic area, photo by Sally L. White
• The fireplace monument, photo by Sally L. White

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O'Fallon Park

O'Fallon Park touches Bear Creek just east of Kittridge and its 860 acres extend southward toward Indian Hills. This park marks the halfway point in Bear Creek’s 40-mile journey from Summit Lake on Mount Evans to the South Platte River.

Known for generations as one of Denver’s streamside picnic parks, O’Fallon’s role is now focused on hiking and, as before, fishing access. Forested slopes and open meadows offer recreational opportunities for hikers, naturalists, and mountain bikers. The multi-use Bear Creek Trail passes through the middle of the park, connecting it to adjacent Corwina and Pence Parks. Hiker access is provided at two trailheads; mountain bikers use trailheads at Pence Park and nearby Lair o’ the Bear (JCOS). See park map.

Picnic sites are available first-come, first-served, or by reservation on weekdays only. There is no shelter.

A noteworthy feature here is the unique 4-sided fireplace structure that rises above the creek bank, marking the park for motorists on Highway 74. A bronze plaque commemorates Martin J O’Fallon, who purchased the property as a gift to the people of his home city. O'Fallon was a member of the Mountain Parks Advisory Commission in the 1920s-30s.

For more information:

Read all about it: Denver Mountain Parks: 100 Years of the Magnificent Dream, featuring photographs by John Fielder, is available at Amazon.com. Written by Wendy Rex-Atzet, Sally L. White, and Erika R. Walker, the book contains extensive history of the system, then/now photos, and a guide to the parks. Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, 2013.

Mountain Parks Attractions, City website

Picnic shelter reservations: 720-913-0700, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or online

About O'Fallon Monument 

Denver began buying park property in the foothills west of the city in the 1910s and 1920s to provide places for residents and visitors to enjoy mountain scenery and outings. Today, 22 developed parks and 24 conservation areas make up the 14,000-acre Denver Mountain Parks system, originally planned by Fredrick Law Olmsted, Jr. Much of the acreage is in Jefferson County, especially in the Evergreen area. During the summer months JustAroundHere.com will be featuring parks in the Evergreen area, encouraging you to check them out in your spare time.

Dedisse Park

This 420-acre park contains the 65-acre Evergreen Lake and the Evergreen Golf Course. West and north of the popular lake, the park is less well known. Access the north part from Highway 74, just south of the Catholic Church, for a "mountain park" experience in a secluded ponderosa pine forest. The stone picnic shelter, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the late 1930s, is available for group use by reservation. Beyond the shelter, the road is closed, but makes a good trail for hikers to explore the area, including a CCC-built stone bridge.

The Dedisse Trail winds through the north part of the park, connecting northward to Evergreen’s Pioneer Trail and westward to Jeffco Open Space trails in Alderfer-Three Sisters Park. Named for homesteaders Julius and Mary Ann Dedisse, the land for the park was acquired through eminent domain by Denver in 1919. Although not part of Olmsted’s original acquisition plan, the construction of the lake in 1928 made it the “perfect mirror of the Denver Mountain Parks,” reflecting Elephant Butte, Bergen Peak, and other conservation areas.

Read all about it: Denver Mountain Parks: 100 Years of the Magnificent Dream, featuring photographs by John Fielder, is available at Amazon.com. Written by Wendy Rex-Atzet, Sally L. White, and Erika R. Walker, the book contains extensive history of the system, then/now photos, and a guide to the parks. Denver Mountain Parks Foundation, 2013.

City website

Picnic shelter reservations: 720-913-0700, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or online