I read recently that people sometimes call Mount Princeton “a pile of rocks”. After seeing this, I assumed the hike would be uneventful, boring, and just one “to do and be done”. While yes, there are LOTS of rocks to negotiate for at least 50% of the hike, there is more to Mount Princeton!

First, you must know that getting to the “towers” trailhead is not a 2WD road. While not the roughest 4WD we have done, you will want to drive a higher clearance AWD/4WD SUV, jeep, or truck. We decided to scout out the drive the day prior as we had read how tough it can be. Shortly after entering the road to the trailhead, we drive up on an older Honda Accord, stuck at an uneven, rocky, rutted switchback with one side of the road cliffed out. Ok, so now what? The road is extremely narrow with few areas to pass other vehicles and one side is a sheer cliff. We had no choice but to BACk DOWN the 4WD road for approx. a half mile until there was enough room for the car to pass us as there was no way he was making it past that spot. Funny thing is when we finally found a spot to pull off to allow him to pass, he drives up TOWARDS us! How the heck did he get that car turned around on that narrow road? We shall never know. 

Nerves on end, we decide to continue the drive up the mountain because we are now worried how far away the parking is and if we will have a place to park our big truck the next morning. Luckily, the rest of the road was not awful and we feel better about making the drive the following morning. (We still aim to arrive REALLY early to minimize losing a parking spot).

The next morning around 3:00AM, we set out to hike Mount Princeton. On the way up, as usual, we offer rides to hikers who are unable to make the drive up the road. We find parking, don our headlamps, and start our hike up the rest of the 4WD road to the staircase of rocks leading towards the summit. The hike now leads you along the side of the mountain, winding through dirt, gravel, and various sizes of rocks. To the right and behind us, the sun is slowly beginning to peak over the city of Buena Vista. Up ahead we can see faint headlamps as other hikers work their way towards the boulder field leading to the saddle and ridgeline up towards Mount Princeton. 

As we near the boulder field, we are continuously searching for the trail fork where the older trail veers to the right and the “newer” trail switchbacks up to the left to the ridgeline. We had even watched a YouTube video made by one of our favorite 14er hikers, The Virtual Sherpa, who does a great job of pointing this out. Unfortunately, we end up hiking with other hikers who choose the old trail (which none of us realized until we are too far into the boulder field, scrambling up the steep mountainside. After what seems like an eternity, we all converge at the base of the final pitch to Mount Princeton (we all chose our own adventure in how to get out of the mess!). This final pitch is steep, extremely windy, and not super fun! You also pass by the plaque in honor of Catherine Martha Pugin who passed away on at that spot on the mountain after being struck by lightning on Sept 9, 1995. This plaque is just another reminder of how deadly these mountains can be. She was only 30 years old.

We eventually summit and find other hikers huddled in built up rock windbreaks and others donning warming blankets. The views are amazing but we waste no extra time at the top. After a few photographs, we start hiking down with a couple of hikers we had offered a ride to the trailhead several hours earlier (Claire and John). 

It is a long hike down and AGAIN, we lose the trail at the boulder field and end up skipping and crawling through the rocks a second time. Luckily, we had great companionship and so it made the trek much more enjoyable. We make it to the truck and drive our new friends down the road to their car. 

It was another longer day, but Mount Princeton wasn’t as bad as some hikers had made it out to be. The hike had some amazing views and areas of fun scrambling. I think had we not lost the trail twice, it would have been a shorter hike and less exhausting.

6.75 miles
3,200’ elevation gain
14,200’ summit
6.5 hours roundtrip
East Slopes Route
Class 2