Sugar Loaf Bluff is a popular rock-climbing spot in Minnesota. Here's how it got its name.
WINONA, Minn. — If you've been to southeastern Minnesota, you've likely come across Sugar Loaf Bluff.
"I think this is a landmark for people passing through on Highway 61. I think people know they are in Winona when they see this bluff," Carrie Johnson with the Winona County Historical Society said.
The bluff got that name because it resembles what sugar looked like when people used to order it in bulk.
"They were kind of cone-shaped back in the day," Johnson said.
Back then, the bluff was used for mining limestone. That business ended around 1900.
"When it was quarried, what was left behind is what you see here today," Johnson said.
Quarrying has been replaced by climbing. Instead of looking for limestone, visitors are looking for a thrill.
It's 500 feet from Highway 61 down below to the very top of the bluff. Sugar Loaf itself is 85 feet into the sky — just enough to give rock climbers a bit of a challenge.
"There's about 40 bolted sport climbing routes on this particular rock, Sugar Loaf," Jamie Schell said.
Schell is with the Winona Recreation Alliance. His group encourages people to climb both Sugar Loaf and the man-made ice wall located next door.
From the top, you can see Winona's Basilica, along with homes and businesses, the Mississippi River and even into Wisconsin. Those views have a different meaning for Nicky Buck.
"It's emotional. It feels like home," Buck said.
She said the bluff has special significance for the Dakota people, and they view it as a sister to Red Wing's Barn Bluff. The story says the creator separated the bluffs because people weren't getting along.
"We are called to clear that energy so that those two sisters can spiritually re-unite again," Buck said. "We are all in this together and the land is going to teach us how to utilize our gifts."
Sugar Loaf is its own gift — and one that keeps on giving. Though the hike can be grueling on a windy winter's day, what's waiting at the top makes it all worthwhile.
"The mining, when they stopped with that, just created a really, really unique feature to that. People recognize and know and from even farther away, 'Oh, I've heard of Sugar Loaf.' That's pretty powerful," Schell said.
During Winona's Ice Fest, people come from across the Midwest to visit Sugar Loaf and the 100-foot ice wall nearby. About 400 people climb that wall during Ice Fest.
