Cherry Creek State Park in Arapahoe County is a Colorado park built around an 880-acre reservoir amid prairie and wetlands near the Denver metropolitan edge. Its open water, grasslands, paved roads, and multi-use trails support boating, swimming, camping, fishing, bird watching, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, and other year-round recreation, with summer rentals and events adding to its role as a social destination. The park also sustains diverse wildlife, with more than 40 recorded mammal species. It holds a place in recent religious history as the site of Pope John Paul II’s papal Mass for the 8th World Youth Day on August 15, 1993, attended by an estimated 500,000 people.