Engagement photography session - sugarloaf mountain, frederick county, maryland
I got to have two engagement sessions at Sugarloaf Mountain with this sweet couple. Ok ok. Well the first one was cut short because of a summer afternoon rain cluster that moved in. The second was a mulligan, sans the rain! The last time I was at Sugarloaf Mountain was in 2016 (see blogs posts on Frederick Weddings and Charm City Wed so it has been a long while.
The couple and I had to schedule a 4 hour session in order to get onto the property before the entrance gates closed, so we didn’t have a strict plan. We knew we wanted sunset views though!
We started near the entrance of Sugarloaf Mountain along the tree-lined gravel road. From there we started heading up the mountain by car. The first stop we made was on the east side. The sky was clear and blue and the sun was full and hot. Since time wasn’t really a factor yet, we casually roamed the east side of the mountain and explored trails until the sun started to fade over to the west.
After a quick outfit change, we once again casually roamed the mountain side and trails, but this time on the west side. The sun was happily peeping in and out of the trees and I had a feeling the sunset would be spectacular. After identifying a few locations where we could take sunset photos, we decided to take a chance and go hike to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain.
So lets pause here… the soon-to-be bride was wearing strappy sandals. The soon-to-be groom had nicer dress shoes on, and a long-sleeved shirt. As for me? I was dressed to hike up the side of the mountain (for the most part). However, I quickly learned my body was NOT prepared to walk up a billion stairs—yes, there are stairs carved into the mountain side for a portion of the way up to the summit. But we took our time by stopping along the way for photos. We made it to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain before sunset. Some of us were breathing a little heavier than others, but I know all of us wish we packed water.
Was it worth it? Heck yeah! Did my legs hate me? Big time! But the views were spectacular. Giddy isn’t a strong enough word to describe my feelings as I was taking photos up on that mountain top. It actually felt a little surreal. We stayed at the summit until sunset, and then hustled down the mountain before it got too dark to see where we were going. Surprisingly, my legs didn’t hurt the next day… and I also had this weird desire to go back, but without a camera, and maybe not on a summer day. I hope Sugarloaf Mountain remains open to the public so I can have many more adventures there!
