Mt. Princeton Trip Report 06/30/2008

Peak(s):	Mt. Princeton - 14,200 feet
Date Posted:	06/30/2008
Modified:	07/01/2008
Date Climbed:	06/29/2008
Author:	Nevaar

Mt. Princeton - cloudy to start, beautiful finish
Sunday, June 29th, 2008 Hawk and I had another great adventure. We drove to Buena Vista to take on Mt. Princeton. The day seemed beautiful, though by the time we parked at the towers which oddly enough, was smack in the middle of the cloud layers. It made for an interesting hike. As we started off at about 8:54am, it became apparent that there was plenty of parking well above the towers, and we passed several SUVs. It was rather weird hiking in the middle of the fog, but kidof cool too. There as enough snow left on the 4wd road to make most drivers stop and retreat. We arrived at a point above the cloud layer Red Truck (about 9:41am - yeah, 45 min, we were a bit out of shape ); well, near the top of the clouds anyway. It was quite amazing at that point, as the sky was bright blue, yet the clouds were still blocking most of the view below us.The updraft was very neat as the warm air hit us on our left side, while cooler air was descending onto our right side. We spotted a red pickup parked at a point where progressing further was more or less impossible due to a think snow back crossing the road. We continued on, following the 4wd road... until it ended. There was a large cross on our right as we followed a trail to the right. The trail seemed to stop. It just disappeared and the clouds were clearing a little. At this point we realized that perhaps we missed the real trail head. How the heck did that happen? We backtracked and looked around, but nothing. So after a bit of wandering, we stumbled across a cabin. The sign indicated that the cabin was: "BristleCone (Pinus Aristatus) Park \| Property of U.S. Forest Service \| Chalet owned-Operated by Young Life Campaign" There were a couple of dogs barking at us, and eventually a dude named Thadeus came out and we chatted briefly. Apparently we totally missed the actual Mt. Princeton trail head by a fair margin so back down we wen, having wasted about an hour. I did manage to capture one of the best photos of the day though - (I think that's the backside of Tigger peak), so I am not at all upset at losing the time. We located the trail head on the way back down, which took just a few minutes, we came across the red truck again, and lo and behold, there was a pretty obvious cairn indicating the trail head. I have no idea whatsoever how we missed it, but sure enough we did. So, trudging approx 15 feet through some deep-ish snow,we actually began the ascent. The first little bit was fairly easy, and then we got to the rocky bit (approx 11:12am). From that point on, the trail was rough and uneven, causing more than one misstep. The farther we went, the tougher it got. There were patches of very slippery snow (11:57am) that made our footing a bit more unsure. We made it thru that patch without difficulty, though a family with a 1yr old baby in a carrier must have had some difficulty. It did not deter them however. Onward and upward. The trail got a little difficult to follow, but by 12:30 we made the ridge line and I snapped some awesome panoramas . The summit was bagged at about 1pm - pretty darned late considering a 9am start time. Oh well. Some stormy clouds rolled in and brought some light rain with it. As we were heading back down, thunder started booming not too far away, so we quickened our pace. Not a fast pace to be sure as my knees were starting to let me know hoe unhappy they were. More thunder, darker cloud, faster pace Surprised. We reached the cairn again at about 3:30pm, and oddly enough the red pickup had been turned around and was now facing downhill, but still parked. The trip back down the 4wd road was uneventful. It should be noted that at about the same time we were on Mt. Princeton, a lady fell 800 feet to her death on Crestone Needle - not a peak I ever plan on attempting! I would like to hike to the approach, but certainly no further. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mt. Princeton - cloudy to start, beautiful finish

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 Hawk and I had another great adventure. We drove to Buena Vista to take on Mt. Princeton. The day seemed beautiful, though by the time we parked at the towers which oddly enough, was smack in the middle of the cloud layers. It made for an interesting hike. As we started off at about 8:54am, it became apparent that there was plenty of parking well above the towers, and we passed several SUVs.

It was rather weird hiking in the middle of the fog, but kidof cool too. There as enough snow left on the 4wd road to make most drivers stop and retreat. We arrived at a point above the cloud layer Red Truck (about 9:41am - yeah, 45 min, we were a bit out of shape

); well, near the top of the clouds anyway. It was quite amazing at that point, as the sky was bright blue, yet the clouds were still blocking most of the view below us.The updraft was very neat as the warm air hit us on our left side, while cooler air was descending onto our right side. We spotted a red pickup parked at a point where progressing further was more or less impossible due to a think snow back crossing the road.

We continued on, following the 4wd road... until it ended. There was a large cross on our right as we followed a trail to the right. The trail seemed to stop. It just disappeared and the clouds were clearing a little.

At this point we realized that perhaps we missed the real trail head. How the heck did that happen? We backtracked and looked around, but nothing. So after a bit of wandering, we stumbled across a cabin. The sign indicated that the cabin was:

"BristleCone (Pinus Aristatus) Park | Property of U.S. Forest Service | Chalet owned-Operated by Young Life Campaign"

There were a couple of dogs barking at us, and eventually a dude named Thadeus came out and we chatted briefly. Apparently we totally missed the actual Mt. Princeton trail head by a fair margin so back down we wen, having wasted about an hour. I did manage to capture one of the best photos of the day though - (I think that's the backside of Tigger peak), so I am not at all upset at losing the time.

We located the trail head on the way back down, which took just a few minutes, we came across the red truck again, and lo and behold, there was a pretty obvious cairn indicating the trail head. I have no idea whatsoever how we missed it, but sure enough we did. So, trudging approx 15 feet through some deep-ish snow,we actually began the ascent. The first little bit was fairly easy, and then we got to the rocky bit (approx 11:12am).

From that point on, the trail was rough and uneven, causing more than one misstep. The farther we went, the tougher it got. There were patches of very slippery snow (11:57am) that made our footing a bit more unsure. We made it thru that patch without difficulty, though a family with a 1yr old baby in a carrier must have had some difficulty. It did not deter them however.

Onward and upward. The trail got a little difficult to follow, but by 12:30 we made the ridge line and I snapped some awesome panoramas . The summit was bagged at about 1pm - pretty darned late considering a 9am start time. Oh well.

Some stormy clouds rolled in and brought some light rain with it. As we were heading back down, thunder started booming not too far away, so we quickened our pace. Not a fast pace to be sure as my knees were starting to let me know hoe unhappy they were. More thunder, darker cloud, faster pace Surprised. We reached the cairn again at about 3:30pm, and oddly enough the red pickup had been turned around and was now facing downhill, but still parked.

The trip back down the 4wd road was uneventful.

It should be noted that at about the same time we were on Mt. Princeton, a lady fell 800 feet to her death on Crestone Needle - not a peak I ever plan on attempting! I would like to hike to the approach, but certainly no further.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

14 Fever	Congrats on your accomplishment! 7/1/2008 4:33pm I was the last hiker in the group of three guys that passed you at the bottom part of the trail when we were trying to out run the thunder. I‘m glad we were able to dodge any potential lightening bolts!
Nevaar	Hauling butt 7/1/2008 5:12pm Man, you guys were really haulin‘ down thru the rock garden. My knees were aching just watching. Well, the boulder-surfing didn‘t help either I hope the family carrying the baby got thru ok. That kid-carrier was like a great big aluminum lightning rod on the Dad‘s back. fzzaaaappp!

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