Mount Princeton has to be the single most boring 14er I’ve done to date.
A nice thing about driving in on Thursday night is being able to find a campsite well up at the 4wd trailhead. If you have a low clearance vehicle or get in late on a weekend and can’t find parking, you get to start a lot farther down the mountain and add several more miles to the hike.
Despite being 6.8 miles and just over 3,000 feet of elevation, it feels long and tedious due to the unchanging terrain. Loose scree and some light bouldering make for a pretty mundane time.
Glad to have it checked off the list, I’m betting that nobody does Princeton twice.
I’m definitely looking forward to backpacking into Horn Fork Basin this afternoon and doing the Harvard-Columbia Traverse tomorrow!
Winter is Coming
Finally starting to see some snow dusting the peaks in the Sawatch Range. Winter is coming soon.
Uninviting
The mountain is pretty uninviting from this angle.
Sunburst
Looking back out to the east as I slog up to Mount Princeton.
Lightning Strikes
Catherine Martha Pugin is the unofficial patron saint of Mount Princeton after being killed by a lightning strike just below the summit in 1995. A gentleman named Mark Howell has a nice writeup here on lightning and when to call off a hike.
What Peak?
Not much of a summit up here.
Looking Back
A look back at the trail up Mount Princeton before the scrambles start.
Mount Princeton
Proof of life, summit sign and all.
Beautiful Lines
Plenty of beauty to be found in these mountains.
A Better View
Now we’re looking much nicer with some fall foliage thrown in.
From a Distance
It’s actually much, much nicer when viewed from the lowlands!
Mt Princeton Google Earth
A Google Earth visual of the hike.
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