Mt. Princeton

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/6/2026, By: cdbrown8x
Info: I highly recommend you don't drive up the 4WD road. It's possible with a short-wheelbase Jeep or ATV (daylight only), but there's a high likelihood of getting stuck in a 4WD truck. There is almost nowhere to turn around until the 4WD trailhead. If you encounter a vehicle going the other way, you're going to have a big problem-- it's one vehicle wide with steep faces on either side. Our Toyota Tundra TRD Off-Road was challenged and bottomed out in cross-road erosion ruts at one point... we had to back down the slope (with the passenger ground-guiding for a half-mile) until we could turn around at the Colorado Trail intersection.

Air quality is a factor today due to wildfire smoke. At 9:30am, AQI was 166 (Unhealthy). 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/3/2026, By: zano
Info: Great weather! Was a little worried of the weather app reporting VERY bad air quality (>200) in the area but it wasn't the case.

Also highly do not reccomend going up to the chalet on the 4wd trail in a bone stock crosstrek but in case you were wondering it's possible. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/9/2026, By: bryanf
Info: Posting this a bit late, so I don't really have anything to add that others haven't said. Conditions are totally clear. I was surprised about the difficulty of the route finding from when you gain the ridge for about 0.5 miles. Kind of exhausting because there were 10 foot sections of clear trail followed by 50 or 100 foot gaps, and while I saw a few cairns, they didn't always indicate something useful.

I wrote more details about the road on the trailhead page. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/23/2026, By: JasonCrane
Info: Reached the summit from the 2WD trailhead yesterday. Very dry conditions, lots of sunshine & comfortable temperatures. Watch recorded 12.9 miles roundtrip with 5200 ft. of elevation gain. Rock walking & boulder-hopping really slowed the pace above treeline with some minor scrambling during the final summit push up the ridge. Bring plenty of water. There's a summit register on the top. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/13/2026, By: RedBullEnjoyer
Info: Terrain was definitley a class 2 scramble, especially at the top (watch out for the false summit). Poles are NEEDED. Make sure you don't miss any of the switchbacks, and also try to bring a vehicle with high clearance to get to 4x4 parking. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/6/2026, By: theolubke
Info: Conditions continue to be excellent - neither snow nor mud on the trail or 4wd road. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/2/2026, By: Arthur Shagisultanov
Info: Agree with spencerrr25 - summer conditions. Hiked from 2WD TH, which was probably not much slower than driving to the 4WD TH - only added about 50 minutes up and 25 minutes down, going at a fast pace. Road is very runnable on the way down, if you don't care about your knees :)

Also, big kudos to CFI - they were starting some trail work on the traverse below Tigger Peak. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 6/2/2026, By: spencerrr25
Info: Summer conditions - as others have mentioned. Road to the trailhead is pretty doable with a pickup truck, only one mildly technical section to worry about but can be easily negotiated with patience. Started around 715, back to the truck around 1230. The majority of the trail once you hop off the road is very rocky and a mild scramble. Not bad going up but gets pretty old on the way back down and its easy to wander off as it isn't well marked. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/31/2026, By: AndrewJCraigie
Info: Dry! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/26/2026, By: NativeTransplant
Info: Basically summer conditions. Two small snowfields on the gullies part that are unavoidable but inconsequential. I brought microspikes but didn't use them. Ridge is fully dry. Stock Tacoma made it easily to the towers, and could have gone another couple hundred of feet up. There are more parking spots higher than the towers just FYI, and if you've made it to the towers, you can make it up to them 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/25/2026, By: Sphenna
Info: Agree with rreuben regarding spikes and poles - spikes not needed, poles were useful today for some muddy sections and the little bit of remaining snow. Thunderstorms were rolling in as I left at noon today 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/24/2026, By: rreuben
Info: Practically summer conditions. I brought spikes but never used them. Poles were nice in some spots especially on the way down as it got muddy and slippery mid-day. Tigger it is also good to go! 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/16/2026, By: Cruiser
Info: Great day on Princeton today. Drove easily to the radio towers last night. Road is subaruable to the towers imo. Snow in one of the switchbacks higher up blocked enough that I wouldn't have driven past it but it's melting fast. Trail is in good condition with very little mud and only a couple of short mandatory snow crossings above treeline. The snow crossings were no more than 20-30 yards long and were in spots that weren't super dangerous. We brought traction but didn't even consider stopping to put them on. No significant route finding challenges but def some trail braiding up high along the ridge between Tigger and Princeton. We found the path of least resistance to be mostly right along the ridge crest or occasionally on the north side of the crest. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/14/2026, By: elliebeauchamp
Info: The 4WD road is completely dry. From there basically summer conditions, some snow patches on the trail on the side of Tigger which were fine on the way up, but after some sun they were frustrating on the descent! I started at 2WD trailhead and my garmin said 13.55 miles & it took me 5hrs 12min but I ran down the 4WD road! I attached some photos too. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 5/9/2026, By: thechriz1995
Info: Parked at the upper TH near the towers, the road up was dry and clear again after the recent storm. Following the standard route the trail had quite a bit of snow on it while going along the north slopes of Tigger Peak, up to knee deep in spots with rocks underfoot. Once on the ridge the snow was thinner but still present all the way to the summit. It appeared I was the first to summit since the storm and I left a good set of postholes to follow, traction you may find helpful. Overall it was a tough climb through the snow but it was a beautiful day with minimal wind.