Pole Knoll

Weather:  79º, overcast

About this Hike:  Visiting Pole Knoll has been on the long list since at least 2018. Back then I had the intelligent idea that this could be a fun wintertime snowshoeing trip. Back in 2018 I still lived in Phoenix...

Today Payson is home and the White Mountains should be a lot more accessible. After all, Payson is just the halfway point between Phoenix and White Mountains, so now I'm already halfway there, right?  Wrong. Driving to the White Mountains is still about a three-hour, arduous affair. I shudder to think what it would be like in winter when there's enough snow to go snowshoeing. 

On Memorial Weekend this year we headed to Mt. Baldy and got turned around in Heber-Overgaard due to a crash on 260. This past weekend, the exact same thing happened. In the exact same spot. It even looked like it was the same cop turning traffic around. Talk about déjà vu. At least I was well-versed in the detour through Snowflake this time around. All in all, it took close to four hours to get to the White Mountains...from Payson. 

I spent the evening at Rainbow Campground on Big Lake and then visited Pole Knoll the following morning. It's not snowshoeing weather, but I was still glad to finally visit this site. 

The weather looked ominous with low, moody clouds and plenty of humidity. Despite high rain chances, I never experienced a drop nor a rumble of thunder. 

I hiked many of the interior trails of Pole Knoll, although there are so many that one would be hard pressed to experience them all in a day. After a while they all look the same—thick conifer forest and thicker aspen forest. That's not a bad thing... The trails are well signed and trees are adorned with blue diamond markers. I'm told these are international snowshoeing markers, hence 'Pole' in the name. Some of the trails appear to be old roads. At least one is still an active road, as I learned when a Jeep came up behind me.

I took the Summit Trail to the top of the namesake knoll and then followed Viewpoint Trail. Thick forest gave way to a nice vantage gazing down into Sunrise Lake and the lodge. The slopes and Mt. Baldy were not so far away in the distance.  

I descended from Summit and picked up Pole Knoll Loop. This trail is supposed to go around the base of the knoll. On the side facing FR-112 the well-marked trail and all the blue diamonds suddenly disappeared. So did thick forest, and it was now rocky grassland with cow pies everywhere. This area made me extremely nervous. I wandered off trail on the side of the knoll while looking down at FR-112 a few hundred yards below. In fact what I was supposed to do was follow 112; the forest road becomes the trail for a short time. 

Eventually I saw a parked truck and knew I was at the other Pole Knoll Trailhead that is accessed via FR-112. I gave up on the loop trail. It was confusing to follow and ugly scenery. I followed a trail from the 112 trailhead back into the thick, beautiful forest. 

Satisfied, I weaved my way on interior trails back to the main parking area. With several picnic ramadas, this made a nice lunch spot after my hike. As I ate, I pondered how accessible Pole Knoll is in the winter. Assuming ADOT clears 260, there is still a driveway to get back to the Pole Knoll parking lot. I doubt this gets much plowing...

Regardless of the season, after all these years I'm glad to finally check Pole Knoll off the bucket list.