Morrison · US

Summer White House

On a rocky ridge above Morrison, Colorado, a single white block of Yule marble is all that survives of an audacious early-1900s gamble: a "castle in the clouds" that developer John Brisben Walker wanted to build as a summer retreat for the presidents of the United States. The corner-stone Walker laid on July 4, 1914 still sits at the end of the Walker's Dream Trail in Mount Falcon Park, reached on a foothills hike that pairs a strange piece of American history with sweeping views over Red Rocks and the Denver plains. Today the site is part of Jefferson County Open Space's Mount Falcon Park, a free, trail-rich park just 30 minutes from downtown Denver. Hikers come for the cornerstone and its historical marker, but they stay for the chain of paths—the steep Castle Trail, the short Walker's Dream spur, the Meadow Trail and a climbable wooden lookout tower—threaded across ridges once owned by one of Colorado's most colorful promoters.