Sugarloaf Mountain | |
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![]() Road leading to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 312 ft (95 m) [1] |
Prominence | 245 ft (75 m) [1] |
Listing | Florida's Highest Points |
Coordinates | 28°38′58″N81°43′59″W / 28.6494413°N 81.7331317°W [2] |
Geography | |
Location in Florida | |
Location | Lake County, Florida, United States |
Parent range | Lake Wales Ridge |
Topo map | USGS Astatula |
Geology | |
Age of rock | ~20,000,000 years |
Mountain type | uplifted coastline |
Climbing | |
Easiest route | Hike, road |
Sugarloaf Mountain is the fifth-highest named point and the most prominent point in the U.S. state of Florida. At 312 feet (95.0976 m) above sea level it is also the highest point on the geographic Florida Peninsula. [1] The hill is in Lake County, near the town of Clermont.
Sugarloaf Mountain, located along the western shore of Lake Apopka in Lake County, Florida, is the northernmost named upland associated with the Lake Wales Ridge, a series of sand hills running south to Highlands County. The mountain, really a ridge with rolling dome-like peaks, rises abruptly from the surrounding flat terrain. Its prominence is thought to be 245 feet (75 m), [1] with its highest peak having a local prominence of about 200 feet (61 m) relative to the surrounding ridge. [3] Sugarloaf Mountain's summit is the most prominent peak in the state, though it is about 10 percent lower than Florida's highest point, Britton Hill, which rises to 345 feet (105 m) above sea level in the Florida Panhandle. [4]
Sugarloaf is more prominent than the most prominent hills in Louisiana or Delaware, two other low-lying states. [4]
Before the 20th century, Sugarloaf Mountain was a wilderness dominated by sandhill and flatwood pine forests. By the 1920s, logging had stripped the mountain of its hardwood vegetation, permanently altering its native environment. Scrub began to grow on the mountain's slopes, in addition to grapes, which were planted mostly to the south of the mountain for a decade or so. [5] [6]
By the 1940s, grape farming had declined because of fungal diseases, and it was replaced by citrus farming. Citrus groves flourished on the flanks of Sugarloaf Mountain, providing the basis for the local economy until the 1980s, when freezes began to devastate local groves. As the citrus industry faded, property on the mountain was rezoned for residential development, with value seen in the mountain's panoramic views of the surrounding area. [5] [7] Other lands abutting the mountain, primarily along Lake Apopka, were preserved with the intention of restoring long-absent ecologies. [5] [8] [9] Only a few citrus plantations and vineyards managed to persist to the present day.
Sugarloaf Mountain's geology is tied to the formation of Florida's sand ridges, specifically the Lake Wales Ridge. The mountain consists of relict sand ridges and dunes formed in a marine shoreline environment about 2 million years ago during the Pleistocene epoch. [6] Since the Pleistocene, the sands comprising the mountain have probably been uplifted due to isostatic rebound of the crust beneath the Florida Platform. The uplift is attributed to the karstification/erosion of the platform, which is reducing the weight on the underlying basement rock, triggering a process similar to post-glacial rebound. [10]
The state of Florida designated the Green Mountain Scenic Byway, which primarily traverses the eastern side of the mountain. The route offers panoramic views of the surrounding landscape and access to newly acquired ecological preserves and historic sites.
Biking along the Byway as well as on other roads on the mountain has become popular, due to the challenge imposed by the relatively rugged terrain of the mountain compared to the surrounding area. [5]
Sugarloaf Mountain also had a golf course. Designed by the firm of Coore & Crenshaw to take advantage of the relatively prominent topography, the course was to be part of the proposed private Sugarloaf Mountain Golf Club residential development. [11] The golf course was closed in 2012 due to low turnout and slow development in the wake of the 2008 housing bubble.
In the speculative fiction novel, American War by Omar El Akkad, Sugarloaf Mountain is turned into an island by climate change related flooding and repurposed as a Guantanamo Bay-esque detention facility in a Second American Civil War. [12]
Mount Nebo is the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah, in the United States, and the centerpiece of the Mount Nebo Wilderness, inside the Uinta National Forest. It is named after the biblical Mount Nebo, overlooking Israel from the east of the Jordan River, which is said to be the place of Moses' death.
Catoctin Mountain, along with the geologically associated Bull Run Mountains, forms the easternmost mountain ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are in turn a part of the Appalachian Mountains range. The ridge runs northeast–southwest for about 50 miles (80 km) departing from South Mountain near Emmitsburg, Maryland, and running south past Leesburg, Virginia, where it disappears into the Piedmont in a series of low-lying hills near New Baltimore, Virginia. The ridge forms the eastern rampart of the Loudoun and Middletown valleys.
The Lake Wales Ridge, sometimes referred to as the Mid-Florida Ridge, is a sand ridge running for about 100 miles (160 km) south to north in Central Florida. Clearly viewable from satellite, the white sands of the ridge are located in Highlands County and Polk County, and also extend north into Osceola, Orange, and Lake Counties. It is named for the city of Lake Wales, roughly at the midpoint of the ridge. The highest point of the ridge is Sugarloaf Mountain, which at 312 feet is also the highest natural point in peninsular Florida. Iron Mountain, the location of Bok Tower, marks another well known high point on the ridge, attaining an elevation of 295 ft (90 m). A northern unconnected extension of the Lake Wales Ridge exists in western Putnam County near the town of Grandin.
Medicine Bow Peak is the highest peak in the Snowy Range, a part of the Medicine Bow Mountains, about 35 miles (56 km) west of Laramie, Wyoming. It lies within Medicine Bow National Forest and is the highest point in southern Wyoming. The summit lies in extreme western Albany County, but the mountain's lower reaches stretch westward into eastern Carbon County. The summit is 12,018 feet high and is visible from Snowy Range Pass, elevation 10,847 ft, on Wyoming Highway 130, a Wyoming Scenic Byway. The most commonly used trail to the peak is a four-mile hike featuring switch-backs and a great deal of loose rock. The trails to the peak are usually open from early June to mid October.
Sugarloaf Mountain is a ski mountain located in Carrabassett Valley, Franklin County, Maine. It is the third highest peak in the state, after Mount Katahdin's Baxter and Hamlin peaks. Sugarloaf is flanked to the south by Spaulding Mountain.
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The Trail Ridge Road/Beaver Meadow National Scenic Byway is a 55-mile (89 km) All-American Road and Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Rocky Mountain National Park in Larimer and Grand counties, Colorado, USA. The byway consists of the 48-mile (77 km) Trail Ridge Road and the connecting 6.9-mile (11 km) Beaver Meadow Road. With a high point at 12,183 feet (3,713 m) elevation, Trail Ridge Road is the highest continuous paved road in North America. The higher portion of Trail Ridge Road is closed from October to May. The Rocky Mountain National Park Administration Building is a National Historic Landmark.
Totoket Mountain, with a high point of (est.) 720 ft (220 m) above sea level, is a traprock massif with several distinct summits, located 7 mi (11 km) northeast of New Haven, Connecticut. It is part of the Metacomet Ridge that extends from the Long Island Sound near New Haven, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border. Totoket Mountain is known for its 500 ft-high (150 m) scenic cliffs, microclimate ecosystems, rare plant communities, and for Lake Gaillard, a 2.5 mi-wide (4.0 km) public reservoir nearly enclosed by the mountain. The north ridge of Totoket Mountain is traversed by the 50 mi (80 km) Mattabesett Trail and a significant network of shorter trails. The name "Totoket Mountain" applies to both the entire mountain and to a subordinate northwestern peak.
The Pocumtuck Range, also referred to as the Pocumtuck Ridge, is the northernmost subrange of the Metacomet Ridge mountain range of southern New England, itself a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. Located in Franklin County, Massachusetts, between the Connecticut River and the Deerfield River valleys, the Pocumtuck Range is a popular hiking destination known for its continuous high cliffs, scenic vistas, and microclimate ecosystems.
Chauncey Peak, 688 feet (210 m), is a traprock mountain located 2 miles (3 km) northeast of the center of Meriden, Connecticut. It is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border. Chauncey Peak is known for its scenic vistas, vertical cliff faces overlooking Crescent Lake, unique microclimate ecosystems, and rare plant communities. It rises steeply 400 feet (120 m) above the city of Meriden to the south with west-facing cliffs that plunge into Crescent Lake 300 feet (91 m) below. The mountain is traversed by the 50-mile (80 km) Mattabesett Trail.
Sierra Buttes is an 8,591-foot-elevation (2,619-meter) mountain summit located in the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Sierra County, California, United States. It is the third-highest point in Sierra County following the north ridge of Mount Lola and Peak 8740. Sierra Buttes are set on land managed by Tahoe National Forest and are within the North Yuba River watershed. The summit is situated two miles (3.2 km) north of Sierra City, and approximately 70 miles (110 km) northeast of Sacramento. Topographic relief is significant as the southwest aspect rises nearly 4,700 feet above the Yuba–Donner Scenic Byway in approximately two miles. The prominent fortress-like landform is visible from as far as the Sacramento Valley, and inclusion on the Sierra Peaks Section peakbagging list generates climbing interest. This landform's toponym has been officially adopted by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, and has been in use since at least 1896 when published by the Sierra Club.
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