Singlepole Mtn.
– Easy/Moderate – Halls Pond and Singlepole Mountain (1,408ft.), South Paris, ME –818 ft. elevation gain. Hike to the summit from the trailhead 2.2 miles/ hike around Hall’s Pond 2.0 miles. RT hiking 2 1.2- 4 hrs. RT driving 2 hrs.
Trailhead is located on Hall Pond Rd in South Paris: Use this link for directions from your location.
Directions: Our route starts by Halls Pond. Those who want to skip the climb, might follow the 1.4-mile trail around the pond. We’ll decide once there depending on conditions. The route up from the pond to the first good viewpoint is about 1 mile one way and is supposedly well marked with blazes. The trail is steep in parts.
From the parking area by the pond, follow the level path around the pond clockwise. When you reach the north end of the pond, at 0.5 miles, you’ll see the mountain path head off to the left. It is marked with blazes on several trees. The first part of the summit trail crosses logged woods for about 0.25 miles before entering the woods and making its way steeply up ledges. You’ll reach the spectacular view, from open ledge that stretch a good ways across the mountain, in another 0.25 miles.
From this viewpoint, the quarry is 0.2 miles farther, (marked with a red icon on my map). The true summit (which has no views) is reachable via a path that heads east (right) from the quarry. There are some discrete No Trespassing signs on the summit discouraging hikers from continuing much farther.
Although some of our hikers, who will not be named, have informed me that the proper name of this mountain is “Singepole”, for now we will continue to use the name Singlepole, as Allen Crabtree did so when he wrote the hike report from our first and most recent climb to the summit on July 12, 2024. This was one of the last hikes Allen completed and while he did not make it to the summit , he managed to hike with the slower and wiser group all the way around Halls Pond.
At the time, Singlepole was a new destination for our group. Many of you will recall how Allen tried to add a new hike into our schedule every month or so. Singlepole was one of these novel destinations and in the good Mr. Crabtree’s report’s conclusion: “This is a fine hike, on a fine day, and we should do it again. Access is year-round and we could do this as a snowshoe hike someday.”
Which brings us to the present and our hope to make this a winter hike.
As of now Jeff Sturgis is planning to lead this hike. This is one of those weeks that we will watch the weather closely. We will send out a post by Thursday night if we decide to cancel the trip due to a miserable sounding forecast. Jeff will go directly to the trailhead and we will start hiking at 9:30 AM. Jacob will likely go to the church unless someone else volunteers to do so.
We try to add a new mountain or new trail on a familiar mountain in our monthly hiking schedules, and climbed Singlepole Mountain in South Paris for our 12 July hike. Singlepole is unique for its views from the summit and an old Pegmatite quarry. There are two hike choices from Hall’s Pond – climb to the summit of Singlepole or hike around Hall’s Pond at the base of the mountain. Both are fine hikes.
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