Mt. Princeton

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/12/2017, By: SuperB07
Info: Road from the lower Trailhead is drivable with 4WD and high clearance. The tree that fell a few weeks back has been cut up and drug off the road. Parking at the campsite east of the radio towers has a few inches of snow, but there were folks with Jeeps and Landcruisers parked just fine.

Road from the antennas to the point where you turn north to the old mining road is icy in the ATV tracks, but no traction is required. Once you get on the trail proper, the north side of the ridge is in shadow all day so you can walk it without traction. I used poles to help as the trail and cairn disappear from time to time resulting in some hip deep post holing. The first to gullies are fine for now, but the third is definitely questionable. The group i fell in with and the others turned south and went vertical at this point, scrambling up the gully to avoid the worst spots.

Once on the ridge, there is plenty of route finding to be had, but the course is straightforward. We descended down the same gully to save time as the nightly freeze was setting in and we wanted to make it back to the low trailhead before the road became icy.

Overall, the summer route is likely going to be safe until the next major storm, at which point pushing over "Mt Tipper" will be the better bet. Recommend gators and micro spikes. I pulled my axe out for the scrambling portion to break trail but the rest of my group made it up with just trekking poles. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/6/2017, By: earthinspired7
Info: Just an FYI on the Mt Princeton rd - snow starts shortly after the lower parking lot. and about 2/3 rds of the way up to the upper parking there is a downed tree. I'd just keep the vehicles at the lower parking. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 11/4/2017, By: Thevirtualsherpa
Info: Hiked Princeton from the radio towers. I suspect that this report may be useless after this upcoming storm, but here it is anyway.

Pockets of snow, mostly in the shade, from the trail turnoff on the road until the summit. Trail easy to follow until you get to ridge and then it's a bit of choose your own adventure. I stayed high, which seemed to work out. Spikes not needed on the way up, but helpful on the way down (especially with a dog). Juno did accompany me on the hike and she had 0 problems making it to the summit. Princeton is still in prime shape for the most part! Check the weather though, wind was no joke for us. As always, feel free to message me on IG or twitter for more info. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 10/16/2017, By: SamFletcher
Info: Road is clear an dry all the way to the radio towers. Some snow on road after that, but its melting and is already manageable for both cars and people. Lots of snow starting shortly after exiting the road, with drifts up to a couple feet deep in places. Be sure to be on the lookout for where the trail splits off to the left and climbs to the ridge. It looks the trail goes quite a ways on the actual east face of Mt. Princeton, but it does not. Missing the turnoff will cause you to have to do a rather unpleasant snow climb on not very consolidated snow to get to the ridge. Traction highly recommended 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 10/7/2017, By: geneseejen
Info: Agree with the previous posts. Snow on trail beginning at 12K. Found microspikes to be very helpful. Sunny all day. No wind at times then strong winds with gusts 35+. New snow forecast for Monday. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 10/3/2017, By: wbuck
Info: Snow is flying in the high country! The road is clear up to and past the radio towers. The road/trail is clear up to about 12,200 ft. Then it becomes snowy, albeit easy to travel. The wind on the ridge was horrendous at times but the views were unbelievable. I started in the fog, hiked through snow, and it was fairly clear at the summit. You never know what the weather will be. Expect to encounter snow, I recommend micro-spikes but they aren't absolutely necessary yet. The ridge and summit are snowy though it is mostly windblown. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 10/1/2017, By: IsaacB
Info: Starting to get into wintery conditions up high, with several inches of snow near the summit plus high winds. There were lots of people out so the trail was mostly packed down. Didn't use microspikes but they may be useful if the packed snow becomes icy in the future. Road was mostly clear to the trail turnoff. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 9/8/2017, By: NSully
Info: We camped just below the Radio Towers 9/2, closer to the towers than the main road. While setting up camp we spotted a good size adult mountain lion within 25 yards of camp just after dark. The first person to spot it stood up and it moved away, but we're pretty sure it stayed in the area. Older(ish) scat was found in the area in the morning.

The road was fine if you had 4 wheel drive, but few places to pass and a fair bit of traffic.

The hike was smooth, until the boulder fields where we had to keep an eye out for cairns. Several steep, soft patches of dirt that could be treacherous if you weren't careful. Weather was about as perfect as you could ask. 

Route: Grouse Canyon
Posted On: 7/31/2017, By: cardgenius
Info: The forest is very lush and green. The plants are growing over the top of the trail making it a fun bushwack style hike. Check out the TR by PKR for a good set of directions. Once above tree line the trail seems to go straight up instead of turning left to the ridge.

A fun route. Bring a helmet if you want to make the upper portion more exciting. Some good Class 3 scrambling up there. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/27/2017, By: Blue6String
Info: Summer conditions for sure. The road to the towers has clearly gotten a lot of rain lately, there are a handful of muddy, loose ruts and spots that should be addressed with appropriate caution. Some new rocks and challenges have been kicked up due to water erosion, but nothing that can't be dealt with. Saw stock CRV and Cherokees all the way up the road to the stairs. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/23/2017, By: RogerHiker
Info: Scrambling through rocks/boulders during the last third of the hike and slogging up sand in the final climb make for a challenging hike - but it is definitely worth it! Amazing views from the top, some of the best I can recall. We started a little before 5 am from the lower trailhead at the large parking lot. It took us about 4-1/2 hours to get up. The road is paved to the lower lot. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/23/2017, By: RogerHiker
Info: Scrambling through rocks/boulders during the last third of the hike and slogging up sand in the final climb make for a challenging hike - but it is definitely worth it! Amazing views from the top, some of the best I can recall. We started a little before 5 am from the lower trailhead at the large parking lot. It took us about 4-1/2 hours to get up. The road is paved to the lower lot. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/14/2017, By: thomkath
Info: Road is clear all the way to upper trailhead, though limited parking-- I bet it gets crazy on the weekends up there.
My husband and I had a rough trip on the way up because we missed the turn about halfway through the boulder field and ended up taking a random route straight up. My advice: keep an eye out for where there is a small rock wall along the trail and an opportunity to head left-- head left! Hah, would have spared us some misery.
Also, this is not a great hike for dogs, unless they're super athletic or hiking experts. We had booties on our boxer and he did ok but I was worried about his feet the whole time on all the rock terrain.
Beautiful day and beautiful hike overall, though probably won't be one that I will repeat. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/15/2017, By: MarcoPesce57
Info: The FWD road is open to the top. My F350 made it easily to where we parked at the tower. Saw a beater Hyundai driving all the way to the base of Tigger. The road's condition was one of the better ones I've seen (13 summits). Be prepared for a difficult slippery granite boulder laden climb fest of a 'trail.' These loose rockfields dominate the 'trail.' The rare opportunity for an actual sandy portion near the steep acent (below the last rocky ridge) was one step forward and three steps sliding backwards. The one snowfield you traverse was mushy soft. No need for anything special. Least favorite 14'er so far. 

Route: East Slopes
Posted On: 7/10/2017, By: wyyld
Info: Excellent conditions from the 2wd TH all the way to the summit. Two snow areas that are pretty insignificant on the way up. Super fun and challenging class 2 trail. Fave mountain I've hiked so far!!!