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Summit Lake Park
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Summit Lake Park
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| Location: | Clear Creek County, Colorado, USA |
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| Nearest city: | Idaho Springs, CO |
| Built: | 1924 |
| Architect: | Benedict, Jules Jacques Benoit; CCC |
| Governing body: | Local |
| MPS: | Denver Mountain Parks MPS |
| NRHP Reference#: | 95000110 [1] |
| Added to NRHP: | February 24, 1995 |
Summit Lake Park is a park located along Mount Evans Scenic Byway about 38 miles (100 km) west of Denver, Colorado. The park is 160 acres (0.65 km²) in size and contains alpine tundra. Land to the east of the lake is in a state of permafrost which helps to prevent drainage of the area.[2] During the summer, the park is filled with wildflowers, some of which have not been found anywhere else outside of the Arctic Circle.[3] The park is named after Summit Lake, the headwaters of Bear Creek.
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Summit Lake is a tarn which sits at 12,836 feet (3,912 m) altitude in a glacial cirque on the north face of Mount Evans and the east face of Mount Spalding. To the north, there is a col (12,855 feet/3918 m altitude) looking down into the chain of two cirques holding the Chicago Lakes at the headwaters of Chicago Creek.[4] By one count that includes several unnamed lakes, Summit Lake is the 13th highest lake in the United States.[5] In 1915, the USGS reported that Summit Lake was the highest lake in Colorado, at 12,740 feet.[6] Later secondary sources occasionally report it as the highest lake in the United States.[7]
The land was acquired by Denver in 1924 and incorporated into the Denver Mountain Parks system.[3] It was declared a National Natural Landmark in April, 1965.[8]
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