Sugar Loaf Mountain Island, Fairfield Bay, AR

Monday, October 17, 2016 - Part 2

This afternoon we decided to take a shuttle to Sugar Loaf Mountain Island in Greer Ferry Lake and do some hiking.

The shuttle is a pontoon boat.  There will be 12 of us going to the island to hike. See our boat and Jason the driver.

As we pulled away Tic got this picture of the Fairfield Bay Marina which provides the only shuttle to the island.
 

The hill in front of us is Sugar Loaf Mountain Island.  The only dock is on the South (other) side of the island.
 

This is the dock on the South side of the island.
 

Our plan is to head to the Mule Trail which is the top of the island.
 

These four people are on the trail in front of us. 
 

It is very steep on this last part of the climb to the top.  You can see the Corp of Engineers actually built steps here.  We were told that the climb to the top was about a 500 ft elevation change.
 

I thought these purple berries looked so pretty.  I researched and learned this plant has several names.  Two of the more common names are American Beautyberry and Callicarpa americana.  Callicarpa americana is useful medicinally and as food for wildlife and people.
 

The rock formations near the top were intriguing.  See both above and below. 

This is the final set of stairs to the main lookout on the top.

We made it to the top. WOW! Look at that view!  The marina off Dusty's left shoulder is the Fairfield Bay Marina we left from.

The next 4 pictures are my favorites from the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain Island. 

Tic zoomed in on that boat and it actually has 7 people in it so it is not real small.

 As you can see, the trail on the top is very full of trees.

This was taken from the very top of the mountain.  Lots of trees to look through.  Best view point is at other end of trail.
 

More American Beautifulberries on the top.

The best view point is at the bottom of these steps.  We did go to the very top but lots of trees to look through.
 

Rock formations as we were leaving on the shuttle headed back to the marina.

 The sun was really bright on the water.  Cool picture Tic took.