The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya

 After my hike of Mount Margaret, I decided to check out the Great Stupa of Dharmakaya on the campus of the nearby Drala Mountain Center. It was a short drive to the trailhead for the hike to the Stupa.

The Drala Mountain Center, formerly known as Shambala Mountain Center, was heavily impacted by the Cameron Pass Fire in 2020. There is still a lot of evidence of the fire to be seen along the trail. Honestly, it's not the most exciting hike to the Stupa. Really just a walk through the campus. It was really interesting to catch my first view of the Stupa though.

The trail turned a corner and there it was. I walked around the stupa and sat on a bench in an aspen grove to enjoy the view.

I went inside to have a quick look.

Then, I made my way back to the car for the drive home. On the way, I stopped at the Sparge Brewery in Wellington to pick up a couple of crowlers. You can see the brewery right from Interstate 25 headed south from Cheyenne. The beers I picked up were pretty decent.

Roosevelt National Forest: Mount Margaret

 I've been itching to get out into the mountains to go for a hike. With warm weather in the forecast, today seemed like the perfect day to get into the lower elevations of the mountains of northern Colorado. I made the drive down to the Red Feather Lakes area and parked at the Mount Margaret Trailhead 

for my hike to Mount Margaret. This "summit" is unusual, in that it sits at a lower elevation than the trailhead. 

It was an easy start to the hike, with relatively level grades and gentle terrain. The scenery of ponderosa pines and granite rock outcroppings was pleasant.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the hike was seeing all the pasqueflower in bloom. It seemed to be everywhere!

I crossed a stream on a sturdy footbridge.

Eventually, views opened up to the distant, snow-capped peaks.

The trail widened into a rutted road 

and passed several campsites that I think might make an interesting destination for Sierra's first backpacking trip.

The trail passed a pond with a fence around it.

Soon thereafter, I caught my first view of the destination for my hike, the summit of Mount Margaret.

At the end of the trail, marked with a sign, 

I started to scramble up some boulder to the summit of Mount Margaret. The views from the top were decent. To the east in a small valley below a ranch could be seen.

To the west were the high, snow-covered peaks, out to Cameron Pass, I believe.

After a short break, I started to make my way back down to the trail. At a junction I had passed earlier, I decided to take the Divide Trail spur to a better overlook.

Then, I retraced my steps and started to make my way back to the trailhead.

Mount Margaret was an interesting and easy hike. I really do think it might make a great first backpacking trip for Sierra.