If you’re looking for a family-friendly adventure—that’s close to home—you’re in luck: an 81-acre space opened near Federal Heights earlier this spring. The centerpiece of Clear Creek Valley Park is a playground that is just waiting to be explored by little and big Coloradans alike.

For the little ones: A garden-inspired area is perfect for tykes. The watering-can playhouse, a pair of pepper chairs, a carrot bench, and celery slide makes for an easily climbable area for toddlers and young children.

For the big kids: The main playground structure is the epitome of a treehouse. The trees—dotted with animal figures—act as cornerstones for a series of rope bridges and climbing rocks to access the giant slide.

Clear Creek Valley Park
Photo by Lindsey McKissick
Clear Creek Valley Park
The main playground structure is built to feel like a treehouse. Photo by Lindsey McKissick
Clear Creek Valley Park
The watering can playhouse at Clear Creek Valley Park. Photo by Lindsey McKissick

Air and water: Listen for the squeals coming from the east edge of the playground as kids—and some, ahem, parents who are young at heart—coast a couple feet above ground on the zipline. And if the kids beg you to play in the rock-lined creek, they’ll have to work for it: To get the waterway raging, kids have to hand pump the water to propel it toward a three-dam system. They can let the water build up and then send it flowing down to the lake below.

Amenities: The playground is impressive, but there’s one thing that makes Clear Creek Valley Park a parent’s dream: Sparkling clean bathrooms. The restroom facilities are the perfect place to wash up before a picnic lunch under the ample shade structures.

If you go: The park sits just north of I-76. 5900 Tennyson St., hylandhills.org