Mountain Goats Return to Sugarloaf Mountain
In the last months of 2023, when quiet Sugarloaf Mountain in central Maryland was closed to the public, mountain goats returned for the first time in almost 200 years.
The first sighting, by members of a recovery team retrieving climbers' detritus from the Sugarloaf summit, was followed by dozens more after the mountain reopened.
"The sound of clattering rocks caught our attention," Clarksburg resident Valentino Bovidae told The Montgonion. "Maryland had a notable earthquake earlier in the year, and the steam vent plume is still visible for miles. But my wife Asha pointed excitedly: Mountain goats!"
The herd of white animals, large and small, trotted across a "seemingly impossible rock face," Bovidae said. "Even though they’re sure-footed creatures, they kicked up plenty of rocks as they went, sending them careening down the cliff."
The last record of a mountain goat on Sugarloaf was during the Maryland Campaign of the American Civil War in 1862. Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, whose Union forces occupied the Sugarloaf summit, wrote in his diary, "the men will be strong after consuming the meat of agile white cliff elk."
It has been so long since mountain goats were seen in Maryland that current laws don't address their hunting. While rules are promulgated, state gaming officials say any mountain goats harvested will go toward the state deer bag limits of 15 antlerless on private property and unlimited in suburban deer management zones.
Park officials warn the public not to approach mountain goats. Adult males weigh about 300 pounds and charge with their sharp horns when threatened.
Sugarloaf Mountain is open to the public from 8:00 AM until sunset. The front gate closes at 4:00 PM year-round.
