Sugarloaf Mountain or Mount Sugarloaf, is a

butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

-like mountain located in

South Deerfield, Massachusetts South Deerfield is a census-designated place (CDP) in Deerfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. It is home to the Yankee Candle Company. At the 2010 census, the population of South Deerfield was 1,880. South Deerfield is part ...

, United States, with two summits, North Sugarloaf Mountain and its more popular knee, South Sugarloaf Mountain . Its cliffs, made of arkose sandstone, are a very prominent landscape feature visible for miles. Despite low elevations relative to the

Berkshire Mountains The Berkshires () are highlands located in western Massachusetts and northwestern Connecticut in the United States. Generally, "Berkshires" may refer to the range of hills in Massachusetts that lie between the Housatonic and Connecticut River ...

to the west, dramatic cliff faces and a rise of to from the nearby

Connecticut River The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges into Long Isl ...

make the mountain a popular tourist and hiking destination. Sugarloaf Mountain is the southern terminus of the Pocumtuck Range.

Origin of the name

The name ''

sugarloaf A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, ...

'' refers to the loaf-like shape that

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

was once molded into for shipment. The names ''Sugarloaf Mountain'' and ''Mount Sugarloaf'' are both used to describe this mountain.

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

sources and published hiking maps refer to (North and South) ''Sugarloaf Mountain''. However, the Massachusetts state reservation encompassing them is called the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation. The name ''Mount Sugarloaf'' is sometimes used to describe only the south summit, and the north summit is sometimes described as the Pocumtuck Ridge.Connecticut River Home Page
. Cited Dec. 17, 2007 Both names are used locally.''AMC Massachusetts and Rhode Island Trail Guide''. 6th ed.

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains (New Hampshire), White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., wit ...

, Boston, Massachusetts, 1989. The original Native American name for the mountain is Wequamps (or Wequomps). The root ''wehqu-'' in this name or ''weckw-'' in ''Weckwannuck'' "Sugarloaf Brook" means "at the point of or extremity of" and occurs in placenames indicating a stopping point. According to Native American myth, Sugarloaf Mountain is the carcass of a human-eating giant beaver who lived in a lake now occupied by the Connecticut River. The people complained to the god Hobomok that the beaver was greedy, and consuming all their resources. In response Hobomok decided to kill the beaver with a club he fashioned from a large tree. After the struggle, the beaver died, sank to the bottom of the lake, turned to stone, and became what is now Sugarloaf Mountain. There may be some truth to this tale; 15,000 years ago the Connecticut River from northern Vermont to southern Connecticut was post-

glacial A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

Lake Hitchcock. A now extinct species of giant beaver as big as black bears once inhabited North America at about the same time (see Pocumtuck Range for details).

Geology

Sugarloaf Mountain, geologically contiguous with the Pocumtuck Ridge to the north, is composed of

Triassic The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is t ...

arkose sandstone and conglomerate. The Sugarloaf arkose was formed in a

rift valley A rift valley is a linear shaped lowland between several highlands or mountain ranges produced by the action of a geologic rift. Rifts are formed as a result of the pulling apart of the lithosphere due to extensional tectonics. The linear ...

and sits in a

half graben A half-graben is a geological structure bounded by a fault along one side of its boundaries, unlike a full graben where a depressed block of land is bordered by parallel faults. Rift and fault structure A rift is a region where the lithosphere ...

regionally called the Deerfield rift basin. The rift basin formed in Triassic-

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

time and is part of an area of crustal extension that extended from

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

into

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

and

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. The thick Sugarloaf arkose is the basal unit of the Deerfield rift basin and was formed by

fluvial A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

and

alluvial Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

processes. It is overlain by of

lacustrine A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

deposits called the Fall River beds. The Fall River beds are capped by of

tholeiitic The tholeiitic magma series () is one of two main magma series in subalkaline igneous rocks, the other being the calc-alkaline series. A magma series is a chemically distinct range of magma compositions that describes the evolution of a mafic ...

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

flows which are most visible as part of the geology of the Pocumtuck Ridge to the north. The basalts are overlain by a black

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility. Although its permeabil ...

to conglomerate called the Turners Falls Sandstone and Mt. Toby Conglomerate.

Mount Toby Mount Toby, , is the highest summit of a sprawling collection of mostly wooded hills and knolls that rise from a distinct plateau-like upland in the towns of Sunderland and Leverett, Massachusetts, just east of the Connecticut River. This moun ...

, the type locality for the Mt. Toby Conglomerate, can be seen directly across the Connecticut River from Sugarloaf Mountain. About 200 million years ago, as the continent of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

began rifting apart from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

, a series of

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

and deposition episodes interspersed with basalt

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a Natural satellite, moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a Fissure vent, fractu ...

flows created this layer cake. Faulting and earthquakes tilted the layers; subsequent erosion and

activity exposed the tilted "layers" of sandstone, basalt, and erosion-resistant conglomerate visible today. Although not composed of basalt

trap rock Trap rock, also known as either trapp or trap, is any dark-colored, fine-grained, non-granitic intrusive or extrusive igneous rock. Types of trap rock include basalt, peridotite, diabase, and gabbro.Neuendorf, K.K.E., J.P. Mehl, Jr., and J.A ...

, Sugarloaf Mountain is a closely associated with the Metacomet Ridge by virtue of its origin via the same rifting and uplift that created those mountains. The Sugarloaf Formation (or Sugarloaf Arkose), of which Mt. Sugarloaf is partially composed, was deposited mainly by rivers and

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

s, with some localized

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

ponds or

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s. The formation is known in other locations to preserve Triassic fossils such

coprolite A coprolite (also known as a coprolith) is fossilized feces. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour (in this case, diet) rather than morphology. The name ...

s, plant remains such as '' Clathropteris'' and '' Equisitites'' , and fishes such as '' Semionotus, Redfieldius,'' and '' Ptycholepis''. Additionally, the Sugarloaf Formation preserves rare examples of lithified armored mud balls.

Recreation

A seasonal auto road climbs the summit of South Sugarloaf (open late spring through the fall foliage season), and a small seasonal observation tower is located on the summit. Several steep hiking trails, including the Pocumtuck Ridge Trail, make the mountain a favorite local hiking destination. Most of the mountain has been conserved as part of the Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation. The reservation is easily accessible via Route 116 and is only a 15-minute drive from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Massachusetts system and was founded in 1863 as the ...

campus. There is parking at the base of the mountain and at the top of the paved road that leads from the parking area to the summit of South Sugarloaf. It is free to hike the trails or climb the road by foot or by bike, but there is a nominal fee for vehicles. North Sugarloaf Mountain is only accessible by foot; a small cave is located just beneath the summit ledges.

Film and television

In Fall 2008, the

Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...

film ''

Edge of Darkness ''Edge of Darkness'' is a British television drama serial produced by BBC Television in association with Lionheart Television International and originally broadcast in six 50 to 55-minute episodes in late 1985. A mixture of crime drama and pol ...

'' was filmed at the summit of South Sugarloaf. The observation tower was temporarily renovated for the film.

Gallery

Image:Observation Deck, Mt Sugarloaf, South Deerfield MA.JPG, Observation Deck on Mt Sugarloaf in South Deerfield MA. Image:Picnic_Grove,_Mt_Sugarloaf,_South_Deerfield_MA.jpg, Picnic Grove on Mt Sugarloaf, South Deerfield MA Image:East South East View, Mt Sugarloaf, South Deerfield MA.jpg, View of the Connecticut River and the Pioneer Valley looking East South East from Mt Sugarloaf in South Deerfield MA. Image:Mt. Sugarloaf, South Deerfield, MA.jpg, South Sugarloaf. 1910 postcard.

References

External links

Map of Mount Toby

The view from atop Mount Sugarloaf in Deerfield is shown Aug. 11, 2017
by Chris Goudreau, '' Valley Advocate'', Feb. 13, 2018 {{Mountains of Massachusetts Deerfield, Massachusetts Places in Native American mythology Mountains of Franklin County, Massachusetts Mountains of Massachusetts Pocumtuck Range