Echo Lake Park
Echo Lake from above
Nearest cityIdaho Springs, Colorado
Area600 acres (2.4 km2)
Built1921, 1926
ArchitectJacques Benedict
Architectural styleRustic
MPSDenver Mountain Parks MPS
NRHP reference No.95000109[1]
CSRHP No.5CC.646
Added to NRHPFebruary 24, 1995

Echo Lake Park is a park located along the Mount Evans Scenic Byway about 33.5 mi (54 km) west of Denver, Colorado. The park provides a stone shelter with picnic tables and barbecue grills on one end of the lake, and the 1926 Echo Lake Lodge (gift shop and restaurant service only) and an Arapaho National Forest campground are found at the other. Access to backpacking trails, including the Chicago Lakes trail and Lincoln Lakes trail, can be found adjacent to the lake. The park is part of the Denver Mountain Parks system.

Historic designation

Echo Lake Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The listing included two contributing buildings, two contributing structures, and a contributing site on 600 acres (2.4 km2). It included the Echo Lake Lodge, built in 1926, which was designed by Denver architect Jacques Benedict, a two-story octagonal log building on a base of local granite that resembles a Native American earth lodge.[1][2]

Echo Lake, along with Mount Blue Sky, was designated as a historic site by the American Physical Society in 2017, in honor of many cosmic-ray physics experiments conducted at the lake and on the mountain between 1935 and 1960. The historic plaque is outside the Echo Lake Lodge.[3]

Echo Lake

Echo Lake
After Year's First Snowfall
Location of Echo Lake Park in Colorado, USA.
Location of Echo Lake Park in Colorado, USA.
Echo Lake
Location of Echo Lake Park in Colorado, USA.
Location of Echo Lake Park in Colorado, USA.
Echo Lake
LocationClear Creek County, Colorado, United States
Coordinates39°39′30″N 105°36′12″W / 39.65833°N 105.60333°W / 39.65833; -105.60333 (Echo Lake)
Typeoligotrophic
Basin countriesUnited States
Surface elevation10,600 ft (3,230 m)

Echo Lake is a shallow, oligotrophic lake situated at 10,600 ft (3,230 m) above sea level near Mount Blue Sky in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. It formed during the latest period of glaciation roughly 10,000 years ago. As glaciers retreated in the Chicago Creek valley, lateral moraines formed a natural dam to drainage, forming the lake. The ecosystem around the lake is dominated by Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii) and Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa), with some Limber Pine (Pinus flexilis) on exposed sites.

Climate

Climate data for Echo Lake 39.6581 N, 105.6029 W, Elevation: 10,630 ft (3,240 m) (1991–2020 normals)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 27.5
(−2.5)		 28.3
(−2.1)		 35.6
(2.0)		 41.7
(5.4)		 50.6
(10.3)		 62.3
(16.8)		 67.7
(19.8)		 65.1
(18.4)		 58.7
(14.8)		 47.1
(8.4)		 35.1
(1.7)		 27.5
(−2.5)		 45.6
(7.5)
Daily mean °F (°C) 18.2
(−7.7)		 18.5
(−7.5)		 24.7
(−4.1)		 30.3
(−0.9)		 39.1
(3.9)		 49.2
(9.6)		 54.9
(12.7)		 53.0
(11.7)		 46.6
(8.1)		 36.2
(2.3)		 25.6
(−3.6)		 18.3
(−7.6)		 34.6
(1.4)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 8.8
(−12.9)		 8.7
(−12.9)		 13.8
(−10.1)		 18.9
(−7.3)		 27.5
(−2.5)		 36.2
(2.3)		 42.0
(5.6)		 40.9
(4.9)		 34.6
(1.4)		 25.4
(−3.7)		 16.2
(−8.8)		 9.1
(−12.7)		 23.5
(−4.7)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 1.41
(36)		 1.85
(47)		 3.22
(82)		 4.52
(115)		 3.29
(84)		 2.33
(59)		 3.21
(82)		 3.37
(86)		 1.98
(50)		 2.26
(57)		 2.05
(52)		 1.33
(34)		 30.82
(784)
Average snowfall inches (cm) 24.4
(62)		 33.9
(86)		 54.4
(138)		 61.1
(155)		 25.9
(66)		 4.3
(11)		 0.0
(0.0)		 0.1
(0.25)		 11.0
(28)		 25.8
(66)		 39.9
(101)		 20.1
(51)		 300.9
(764.25)
Source 1: PRISM Climate Group[4]
Source 2: NOAA (Mt Evans Research Station precipitation & snowfall)[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. ↑ Maureen Van Norden (February 25, 1994). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Echo Lake Park / 5CC 646". National Park Service. Retrieved June 15, 2018. With accompanying 10 photos
  3. ↑ Mount Evans and Echo Lake, Colorado, part of the APS Historic Sites Initiative; accessed Oct, 2019.
  4. ↑ "PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University". PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University. Retrieved December 9, 2023. To find the table data on the PRISM website, start by clicking Coordinates (under Location); copy Latitude and Longitude figures from top of table; click Zoom to location; click Precipitation, Minimum temp, Mean temp, Maximum temp; click 30-year normals, 1991-2020; click 800m; click Interpolate grid cell values; click Retrieve Time Series button.
  5. ↑ "Mount Evans Research Station, Colorado 1981-2010 Monthly Normals". Retrieved December 9, 2023.
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