9.3 miles from Georgetown. Steep 4 miles round trip. MAP
Sugarloaf is a popular name for hilltops and Georgetown has one of its own that peers down on Rock Creek and across at its neighbor, Bald Mt. This trail connects to the Bald Mt. Canyon trail (see Obscure Trails) to the south and served to access mining activities on Rock Creek long ago. The YCC resurrected this trail in 1989 after heavy logging obliterated it. Sugarloaf is an interes-ting place to me because it somehow supports a thick manzanita forest without the help of much soil. The brush just seems to grow out of end grain slate that composes this very exposed hilltop.
Directions: From Georgetown take Wentworth Springs Rd. 4.5 miles to go R on Balderson 2 miles to go R on Mace Mill Rd. (Stay L at the fork at 1 mi. Darling Ridge). Follow Mace Mill 3 miles to its very end where a big landing provides parking.
The trail starts on the east side through an opening in a barricade fence with a sign advising no OHV. The trail doesn’t waste your time with switchbacks even though they’d make perfect sense there on the steep canyon side but drops rapidly to Rock Creek. This trail may have been an early Indian trail since you can find a Bed rock mortar in the middle of the creek just downstream of the trail crossing.
Al Brass Creek drains into Rock Creek at the crossing and the trail climbs up on the right using big rock steps. Follow up about a mile where you go L when you reach a logging road on top. Follow this a short ways to a more main road which you follow for ½ mile to a junction with a sign pointing R towards Sugarloaf. A gentle grade takes you up a shoulder ridge where you can find Bald Mt. Canyon trail junction going L while Sugarloaf is gained by going R. A short climb through thick manzanita brings you to the top of the mt. Since it takes about one hour from car to mountain top, I estimate the distance at 2 miles one way. Great view from here.
Get Off Your Gass 