Mount Princeton

Princeton is the southernmost of the Collegiate Peaks and the place I did the dumbest thing in my life. I drove up the Mt. Priceton Rd, a serious rocky, deep holed 4WD track, in an older minivan. I did not want to make the 1 to 2 hour hike up to the radio tower where the trail begins. my thinking was if I trashed my oil pan it’s an old car anyway so I wouldn’t be losing much. Somehow I made it and camped for the night waiting for a friend to join me in the morning. My friend couldn’t believe it either but was glad we wouldn’t have to hike down to the base of the mountain. The access road continues across the face of a smaller false summit, and you veer to the right and scale the north side of this. The trail is pretty basic for a 14ner until about half way up broken slabs of granite like jumbled pavers make up the remaing climb to the top. To the south across Chalk creek lies mount Antero followed by Saguache and mount Shavano, to the north is Mount Yale and Columbia.

It was a wonderful day yesterday, Princeton is off the list. 2nd peak of the year and 2nd time, had visited before in apr but it could not summit due to snow and no visible trail. The weather was bad too, lost the trail as well like everyone else on that day 😀 Trail is all clear but be cautious while descending as boulders and slippery slopes are challenging .The view was spectacular as the sky was so clear, it kept getting hotter, carrying an extra hydration pack recommended.

My room was arranged but there were several details, there were debris on the carpet, sheet had stains also there was trash into the drawers. The place is nice but I think they need to take care of cleaning into the rooms. Disgusting 😷😷😷

Spent the day on Mt Princeton, my family found the drive up to the towers a bit harrowing, but we are from the Midwest, and it was their first adventure on dirt road switchbacks. The trip takes some planning, since we got a late start we thought we would drive up to the second trail head at the radio towers. The road continues but the trail actually veers off the road at rock stairway, which a local hiker pointed to to us. This is at the top of the treeline. Since it was past noon, we decided to call it a day at about 12,000' to avoid possible storms. The day was challenging and we know we will be back and better prepared since we learned a lot.

The hike to the summit was more challenging than I expected. Lots of boulder hopping, not terribly scenic, compared to others, on the lower/mid ascent. The trail is adequately marked up to the saddle and for a amall distance after but then becomes more difficult as the ascent gets steeper. The "trail" at the steepest part seems to be more of a general trail area. Lots of dirt and loose rock. The veiws from the summit are spectacular! The road to the towers is more easily travelled than advertised. I made it to the towers easily in my Suburban 2500. No lift. Clearance is ok at best. I was nervous about the wide wheel base. I was a little disappointed I didn't go further. There was a low clearance volvo parked well beyond the tower area on one of the road switchbacks. Only caution...someone was driving up as I was headed down. Fortunately, we were close to a switchback to I only had to reverse back uphill about 500 yds.