Hike Sugarloaf Mt in Maryland

 

I joined friends to hike Sugarloaf Mt in Maryland where I hiked more than 20 years ago. It was in 70sf but foggy and humid so I struggled to sweat. We did not get the views I saw online . I posted the entrance photo which opens at 8 am. In the early 20th century, Chicago businessman Gordon Strong bought land around Sugarloaf Mountain. In 1925, he commissioned architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design an automobile destination for the summit, but it was never built. President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered the mountain for his retreat but chose the nearby Catoctin site (now Camp David) after Strong's suggestion. In 1947, Strong established a trust to maintain trails and facilities. The mountain remains open to the public but is privately owned by Stronghold, Incorporated.

We started with a steep short climb on the sunrise trail to get warmed up, got up and down twice but did only 10 miles with about 2000 feet elevation gain. I felt very sluggish. It may be because that I spent the last three summers overseas (north EU, Africa, Russia/China), so I am not used to hot and humid hikes. Hope I will ease into summer hikes soon.

I rush home and signed up online to attend 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Army Grand celebration for the festival, then gave due to the forecast 200,000 crowd and rain. I checked Sunday news and saw not that many people showed up. I will plan ahead for USA 250th Birthday celebration on 7/4/2026.

Instead, I ran 4.7 miles after the hike. Plus 6.6 miles weekday run, I logged in 21.3 hike/run miles this week. I felt much better running in 80s f with lower humidity.