Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument Mountain, then an island, on 1 March 1565. The site was chosen to guard the entrance to Guanabara Bay, and the mountain was important as a signalling point. A landfill connected the island to the mainland in 1697, and various buildings were erected to defend the territory, but the Urca urban neighborhood was only built 300 years after the city was founded. The Sugarloaf Mountain and Urca Hill Natural Monument was created by the city of Rio de Janeiro by municipal decree 26578 of 1 June 2006. The objectives are to guarantee green spaces for leisure in a natural area,
Sugarloaf Mountain (Massachusetts) rifting and uplift that created those mountains. 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 campus. There is parking at the base of the mountain and at