Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Sugarloaf Mountain


For something different, we headed out to Frederick, MD 
to Sugarloaf Mountain to try out one of their trails.  It's quite the popular place.  
People were hiking, rock climbing and picnicking.  
We headed off on the trail and encountered the steps from hell.  Steps are far worse than hiking up an incline- and that's saying a lot for me because I really struggle on inclines.

The friendly neighborhood vultures were in the trees above me.  
Pretty sure they smelled death.

The view was definitely worth the climb though.
It was a shame it wasn't a sunnier day out,
but it was still gorgeous.
Of course, when we reached the summit
we realized we weren't on the trail we had planned to be on.
We ended up needing to take another trail to get to where we planned to go.
There was another vista called White Rocks that was also gorgeous.

Even my normally afraid of heights son was impressed with the view- 
so much so he ventured out on the rocks.
We were finally headed back towards the car,
though it felt like the never ending trail.
It was supposed to be a 5 mile loop, 
but we weren't sure how much extra mileage we picked up 
when we went the wrong way.

We eventually made it back to the car.
I pointed out we could have seen gorgeous views 
staying in the parking lot.
In the end we hiked 7.4 miles
which is the longest hike since last October.
I didn't have much weight in my pack, 
but all in all I did pretty good.
Lucy did good too
though I did have to carry her for a short while
as she was getting tired.
Definitely want to go back to this spot and try some other trails.

Back to Catoctin: Hike 11

So, I'm pretty far behind in my posts.
If only I could stay home and write blogs all day and eat ice cream.
Anyway...
Hike 11 was at Catoctin Mountain Park in Maryland.
We did the loop that took us past Cunningham Falls, 
past the view at Hog Rock (above)
and back to the Visitor's Center.
Our spring has been nuts this year, and we went from 40* weather to 80* weather overnight.
The heat kicked my butt.
We ended up walking along the road for a bit to shorten the hike
but still managed to do over 6 miles.