With our plentiful parks, trails and mountain lakes, Colorado is prime for picnicking. So pack your basket and bring your appetite to these time-tested favorites.
Kid-Friendly: Wonderland Lake Park
Boulder
Tucked into the base of the foothills in north Boulder, Wonderland Lake Park is a peaceful spot filled with kid-friendly activities, from first-timer fishing and a playground to easy family hikes around the lake. It’s also a popular paragliding spot, and kids will delight in watching the gliders launch from the top of Wonderland Hills. There’s plenty of open space for family games and kite flying, too, while ramblers can access advanced trails like Mount Sanitas and the Flatirons via the park’s trail system.
City Slickers: Cheesman Park
Denver
When spring finally rolls around, Denverites flock to this urban oasis known as “Capitol Hill’s backyard.” Here, the melting snow makes way for Frisbee throwing, people-watching and picnicking in droves. Surrounded by high-rises and Gilded Age mansions, Cheesman offers 80 acres of gentle grassy slopes, shade trees and rose gardens. A stately Neoclassical pavilion at the park’s highest point makes a nice picnic spot, with views of downtown and the Front Range mountains.
Music Lovers: John Denver Sanctuary
Aspen
A stone’s throw from Aspen’s Main Street, the serene landscapes of John Denver Sanctuary will lull you to linger long after the meal is over. There’s the perennial flower garden, for one, fed by the Roaring Fork River that burbles through this urban wetland. And there’s the strolling path lined with boulders bearing the song lyrics of John Denver, who was a longtime Aspen resident and Colorado poet laureate. After a picnic here, you’ll be on a “Rocky Mountain High” of your own.
History Buffs: Comanche National Grassland
La Junta
Comanche National Grassland is a striking landscape of prairies, canyons and pinyon-juniper forest provides rare glimpses into Colorado’s unique history, from dinosaurs to Indigenous peoples. Explore brontosaurus tracks, prehistoric seabeds and rock overhangs with petroglyphs carved by Native Americans as long as 8,000 years ago. Covered picnic areas at Vogel and Carrizo canyons are perfect starting points for this adventure through time.
