The Great Sugarloaf Hike

 AAAAAHHHH!!!  All of the pictures that I'd uploaded earlier are not coming up now.  Freaking out just a little bit.  This is why you don't see pictures on my blog often.  It is a royal pain in my ass.  Grrrrr!!!

 

Well, I am going to publish this anyways, but now I can't give you descriptions of each picture because I can't tell which ones they are.  I just see a little red X in the upper left hand corner where the picture box should be.   (anyone have a suggestion or an idea how to fix this lovely mishap?) 

 

SOOOOOOO . . . . in a nutshell, I took a bus out to a little town called Kilmacanogue to start my Great Sugarloaf Mountain Hike and it is by far the most frustrating hiking experience I have ever had.  It took me ages (literally four failed attempts) to find a viable trail.  Each time I turned back, after deciding that this couldn't possibly be the trail I had been told about, I would try to find somebody else to ask where to go, but there were no people on the trails.  My entire hike on the north side of the mountail was totally isolated, which would have been lovely if I could have found a viable trail. 

 

At one point I ended up coming across a wide gravel path (thinking  "Aha!  here is a well marked path!" only to realize it was a sort of dirt bike path and quickly veered the WRONG direction, away from the beautiful summit I could see that kept taunting me).  When I got to this point, I wasn't sure I'd recognize the  little "trail" I'd come from, so I built a little cairn. 

 

Basically, after 3 hours (for a wee little hike that should only have taken about 75 minutes) and many many expletives, I finally reached the top.  I felt like a super star!!  There are many victory poses from the top of the mountain.   =)  I was seriously, so proud, there are not enough words!  So happy I didn't give up!  The views were spectacular. 

 

Once I got to the top, I could see the "short" trail I had heard about on the internet, and it was quite amusing seeing how direct that path way . . . very well marked, and literally a straight shot from the parking lot on the south side of the mountain to the summit (only 500 some meters, but still a beautiful view of the Wicklow Mountains and Irish Sea).    

 

So that is my tale, and hopefully these pictures will work!  Can you let me know if you see pictures??