Summit Lake Park - Elevation: 12,830 feet or 3,911 meters Summit Lake is the highest park in the Denver Mountain Park system.The site was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1965 because of its extraordinary characteristics. Despite its location in the alpine, the environment mirrors the arctic. Permafrost (permanently frozen ground), unique to the dry alpine tundra is present, along with rare plants usually found above the Arctic Circle. The landscape around Summit Lake is an ever-changing masterpiece. Ice Age glaciers shaped much of the land between 170 and 120 thousand years ago and between 30 and 12 thousand years ago. Imagine what it must have looked like when rivers of ice 800 to 1,000 feet high plucked, scratched and scoured through the land. As the ice receded, the U-shaped valley of Chicago Creek and the ice-scoured basins that hold Summit Lake and Chicago Lakes were revealed.