Trip planning help - Flagpole Know or Peters Mill

Hello,

We just got our Jeep a couple of months ago and finally have a free weekend where we might try to one night camping trip. I've looked a lot around my area and the two that stand out the most are Peters Mill Run and Flagpole Knob. I am leaning towards Flagpole Knob only because it seems like it is a longer trail where we can go up Flagpole Knob Road, find a campground for the night, then go back down via Switzer Lake Road. Does anyone have experience traveling this area? From what I've seen, to get to Flagpole Knob Road, I need to set by maps directions to "Blueberry Trail", which then goes onto Flagpole Knob Road. Then just go straight all the way to the top. Is this right?

The other option is Peters Mill, which is definitely tempting since its BOH. But it looks like it's a shorter run, then I need to find a campsite, whereas with Flagpole Knob, its dispersed camping, so I can set up anywhere. But if there are other trails or areas to explore this one would be more tempting because its closer to home.

Lastly, it'll just be me and my wife. We don't know anyone else, but these trails seem to be easy enough for stock, so we should be fine just us. I have a 21 Sport 6MT with a 3in lift, 35s and a winch I don't know how to use.

Any help on route planning or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
 
Start with an NFS map.

Union springs is the harder of the trails. By hard meaning a difficult Green. (Trail rating system is Green Blue Black Red east to hard)
Dunk hollow is the other trail up to flag pole. Easy trail just some tight spots for 2 way traffic.

Camping Switzer Lake has more sites near the lake...Flag Pole knob is the top of the mountain. Several spots up there.

Trail is popular and usually trafficked so you will run into folks.

Mind the fires as everything is very dry.

Stay the main trails.

Cheers
 
Ps. Check out the off road committee area. There are some videos on winching..and general good information
 
I am a big advocate for never Jeeping alone. Especially in a new rig you may not be 100% used to or know how it will perform offroad. Both trails have some dead spots where you will have no cell signal.

Both trails have camping available. Peters Mill has a little campground at the north end of the trail and Flagpole has camping all throughout (definitely more at Flagpole).

Peters Mill is the easier of the two depending how you go. If you go up (or down) Union Springs, there are a couple more obstacles. As mentioned above, they are not overly difficult, but that is very dependent on your experience level.

Winching...yes, please look at a few of the videos. If you have a winch and dont know how to properly (and safely) use it, it can quickly become quite dangerous.

Have fun and post in the trail rides which one you decide. Maybe someone will join up. There are a couple of us looking at maybe doing Second Mountain Sunday.
 
I am a big advocate for never Jeeping alone. Especially in a new rig you may not be 100% used to or know how it will perform offroad. Both trails have some dead spots where you will have no cell signal.

Both trails have camping available. Peters Mill has a little campground at the north end of the trail and Flagpole has camping all throughout (definitely more at Flagpole).

Peters Mill is the easier of the two depending how you go. If you go up (or down) Union Springs, there are a couple more obstacles. As mentioned above, they are not overly difficult, but that is very dependent on your experience level.

Winching...yes, please look at a few of the videos. If you have a winch and dont know how to properly (and safely) use it, it can quickly become quite dangerous.

Have fun and post in the trail rides which one you decide. Maybe someone will join up. There are a couple of us looking at maybe doing Second Mountain Sunday.

Thank you. Yes I'll def watch some winching videos, I know how dangerous they are when operated incorrectly. Hopefully we wont need it.

For going up Flagpole Knob, I thought it was just called "Flagpole Knob Road". Am I wrong in that assumption? I know about Union Springs and decided not to do that since we will be alone and its supposed to be a little more difficult.

So I though I was going to take "Flagpole Knob Road" up to the top, then Switzer Lake Road back down. If that's not the name of the road to go up, what is (besides Union Springs)?

Also, forgot to ask. Is a full tank of gas enough for this or do I need to bring more? I assume there's a gas station near the entrance of the road?

I don't know much about Second Mountain, but we are planning on going 11/9-11/10 so we wont make it. Thanks!
 
My family and I are thinking about possibly doing Flagpole on Nov 16th if you're interested in joining us. Not 100% sure yet. I'm checking with others to join us. Let me know.
 
Thank you. Yes I'll def watch some winching videos, I know how dangerous they are when operated incorrectly. Hopefully we wont need it.

For going up Flagpole Knob, I thought it was just called "Flagpole Knob Road". Am I wrong in that assumption? I know about Union Springs and decided not to do that since we will be alone and its supposed to be a little more difficult.

So I though I was going to take "Flagpole Knob Road" up to the top, then Switzer Lake Road back down. If that's not the name of the road to go up, what is (besides Union Springs)?

Also, forgot to ask. Is a full tank of gas enough for this or do I need to bring more? I assume there's a gas station near the entrance of the road?

I don't know much about Second Mountain, but we are planning on going 11/9-11/10 so we wont make it. Than
NFS map will out line the trails. The main trail all liek to use is Union Spring. Starts to teh East of the mountains as a road then rolls into the forest as a trail.

Feew minutes on Goole....

Trail 225 and 225B take you up Union Spring road.

Ventureing out on the trail always start with a full tank of fuel. Harrison Burg Sheetz is good and should give you plenty to explore and get back.

cheers
 
Thank you. Yes I'll def watch some winching videos, I know how dangerous they are when operated incorrectly. Hopefully we wont need it.

For going up Flagpole Knob, I thought it was just called "Flagpole Knob Road". Am I wrong in that assumption? I know about Union Springs and decided not to do that since we will be alone and its supposed to be a little more difficult.

So I though I was going to take "Flagpole Knob Road" up to the top, then Switzer Lake Road back down. If that's not the name of the road to go up, what is (besides Union Springs)?

Also, forgot to ask. Is a full tank of gas enough for this or do I need to bring more? I assume there's a gas station near the entrance of the road?

I don't know much about Second Mountain, but we are planning on going 11/9-11/10 so we wont make it. Thanks!
PS, I have found Google to be a invaluable resourse in finding trails. Another great sourse is ON X maps. If you have navigation in your rig. Union Springs trail is on the map.

If you are looking for some challenge Union Springs is a good run. Like I said before it is a mild Green trail and when dry can be run in 2WD. Couple of sticky points as you near the Medow will require soem careful driving but nothing requiring a winch.

Cheers
 
PS, I have found Google to be a invaluable resourse in finding trails. Another great sourse is ON X maps. If you have navigation in your rig. Union Springs trail is on the map.

If you are looking for some challenge Union Springs is a good run. Like I said before it is a mild Green trail and when dry can be run in 2WD. Couple of sticky points as you near the Medow will require soem careful driving but nothing requiring a winch.

Cheers
Thanks a lot for the great info. From what I've seen Union Springs trail is a little "harder" than Switzer Lake Road and Flagpole Knob. This being our very first time doing something like this I think we'll wait until next time for that one. I know the Jeep can handle it, but being alone on our first time I'd rather not risk it. But definitely at some point we will be doing that one.

I think what I'm going to do is get up early on saturday, head to Peters Mill for the BOH, then go up Switzer Lake road to Flagpole Knob, then find somewhere to camp for the night. On Sunday either go all the way through Reddish Knob or maybe just down Briery Branch to go back home. Feel free to let me know if this is not a good route. Thanks again for all the help.
 
My family and I are thinking about possibly doing Flagpole on Nov 16th if you're interested in joining us. Not 100% sure yet. I'm checking with others to join us. Let me know.
I'll check with my wife. We plan to go the week before so we'll see. Thanks for the invite.
 
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