Lisa Browder

To my way of thinking, it’s a bit of a stretch to call Sugarloaf a mountain. Steep hill to hike? Check. Pleasant scenic drive? Check. But mountain? Not so much. Sugarloaf is billed as the 5th highest named point in Florida and sits at 312 feet above sea level. It’s near Clermont. Once you get there, it overlooks a lake.

I decided to drive it, not hike it. The hike would’ve been strenuous and hot. If you’re a senior like me, I’d say skip Sugarloaf and head over to Mt. Dora (about a half hour away) and spend the day. Getting to the view at the top of Sugarloaf takes all of about 2 minutes to drive and although there is a lake, you have to pull over onto the shoulder of the road and walk up to a fence to see it in the distance.

I was, however, impressed with the friendly homeowners who posted this sign and had a cart set up at their gate with water on it for the intrepid hikers.

I don’t know if there was something more to see around the bend in the road at the top, but it didn’t look promising. So I made a U-turn and headed downhill. Clearly there’s a whole different idea of what constitutes a mountain here in Florida.

Or maybe it’s just me. Back in 2015, I went to Costa Rica and ziplined from the top of a mountain. It took 7 separate lines to get back down to the bottom. That, to me, is a mountain.