{"id":541,"date":"2017-08-15T00:34:06","date_gmt":"2017-08-15T00:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/?p=541"},"modified":"2025-11-29T00:39:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T00:39:50","slug":"mount-princeton-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/2017\/08\/15\/mount-princeton-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Princeton, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Date: August 14, 2017<\/li>\n<li>Partner: Xiaoen Ding, Thao Tran, Hieu Nguyen, Ngoc Nguyen<\/li>\n<li>Height: 14,197 feet<\/li>\n<li>Range: Sawatch<\/li>\n<li>Route: East Slopes (Class 2)<\/li>\n<li>Overall Distance: 6.5 miles<\/li>\n<li>Elevation Gain: 3,200 feet<\/li>\n<li>14ers climbed: 18\u00a0separate climbs<\/li>\n<li>14ers remaining: 35<\/li>\n<li>Road Condition to Trailhead: It is an easy drive to the 2WD trailhead out of Nathrop. \u00a0From here, things get quite a bit more serious. \u00a0First of all, stay to the <em><strong>right<\/strong><\/em> as you depart from the 2WD parking lot as it is easy to miss the road continuing up the mountain. \u00a0Then, you have a 3-mile slow slog up a steep, rutted single track road to get to the radio towers. \u00a0My Jeep Cherokee made it with careful driving and using 4WD. \u00a0There are several places to park at the radio towers if you get an early start to beat the crowd.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This hike is a deceptively long hike time-wise, even though it is not a long hike distance-wise. \u00a0 From the radio towers, you&#8217;ll have about 1.5 miles going steadily uphill on a winding forest road. \u00a0A trail abruptly cuts off to your right and ascends a grassy hill. \u00a0After roughly 0.5 mile, the trail enters into a perpetual talus field. \u00a0From here, you have under 1.5 miles to reach the summit. \u00a0As it gently ascends up to meet the headwall, the trail can be hard to follow in spots. \u00a0The old trail cuts to the right and veers straight towards the summit. \u00a0The new trail has been rerouted to cut to the left and switchback up to the headwall. \u00a0Once on the headwall, things get more challenging. \u00a0The trail meanders along the spine of the headwall and becomes less defined. \u00a0You&#8217;ll be on the steepest part of the hike and picking your way through a mixture of solid Class 2 boulders and talus. \u00a0Stay on the spine all the way to the summit.<\/p>\n<p>As with any 14er in Colorado, you want to keep an eye on the weather and your footing while on Mount Princeton. \u00a0People can and do die on this mountain (including one death this year). \u00a0A sobering plaque just below the summit memorializes a young woman who died at the spot after being struck by lightning. \u00a0Keep moving slowly and consistently up the mountain and then get off. \u00a0Save the resting and celebration for after you are safely down.<\/p>\n<p>And now the best news for last &#8230; joining me on this hike were my international student friends from Vietnam, Thao Tran and Ngoc Nguyen (their first 14ers). \u00a0Congratulations to them on a job well done! \u00a0Also joining me was Xiaoen Ding from China (her second 14er). \u00a0Way to hang tough, Xiaoen! \u00a0Last but not least, joining me was faithful climbing partner Hieu Nguyen from Vietnam (his sixth 14er). \u00a0Hieu is becoming quite the seasoned mountaineer.<\/p>\n<p>I should add that I ran into two former students from a Statistics graduate course I taught two years ago (Sam Hagopian and Jodie Daglish). \u00a0One of them had since moved to California. \u00a0Complete 1-in-1,000,000 random event! \u00a0We had a good laugh about this and enjoyed quickly catching up. \u00a0Life is full of good surprises like this \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<div class=\"photonic-flickr-stream photonic-stream \" id=\"photonic-flickr-stream-1\">\n<div id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1\" class=\"photonic-slideshow splide default title-display-tooltip photonic-slideshow-adapt-height-width\" data-splide=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;fade&quot;,&quot;perPage&quot;:&quot;1&quot;,&quot;autoplay&quot;:true,&quot;interval&quot;:&quot;5000&quot;,&quot;speed&quot;:&quot;1000&quot;,&quot;drag&quot;:true,&quot;pauseOnHover&quot;:true,&quot;pagination&quot;:false,&quot;slideFocus&quot;:false,&quot;arrows&quot;:true,&quot;direction&quot;:&quot;ltr&quot;,&quot;breakpoints&quot;:{&quot;480&quot;:{&quot;perPage&quot;:1}}}\">\n\t<div class=\"splide__track\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"photonic-slideshow-content splide__list\">\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4367\/36575655985_8f76867123_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Morning is coming ...\" title=\"Morning is coming ...\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Morning is coming ...\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575655985\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4354\/36575655845_d0f59fcf18_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Marching up the trail\" title=\"Marching up the trail\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Marching up the trail\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575655845\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4335\/36575655605_6a6e11ff7c_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"The summit comes into view\" title=\"The summit comes into view\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"The summit comes into view\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575655605\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4343\/36575655395_a3cc1bfc16_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Ran into some old students (Sam Hagopian and Jodie Daglish) on the hike :)\" title=\"Ran into some old students (Sam Hagopian and Jodie Daglish) on the hike :)\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Ran into some old students (Sam Hagopian and Jodie Daglish) on the hike :)\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575655395\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4418\/36575655185_bc462f27c2_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Xiaoen Ding looking south.  That&apos;s 14er Mount Antero behind us.\" title=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Xiaoen Ding looking south.  That&apos;s 14er Mount Antero behind us.\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Xiaoen Ding looking south.  That&apos;s 14er Mount Antero behind us.\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575655185\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4366\/36575654995_223e0d8fda_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Thao Tran looking north. This was Thao&apos;s first 14er :)\" title=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Thao Tran looking north. This was Thao&apos;s first 14er :)\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Thao Tran looking north. This was Thao&apos;s first 14er :)\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575654995\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4413\/36575654765_8dd4635852_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Mount Princeton summit view to the east\" title=\"Mount Princeton summit view to the east\" data-photonic-tooltip=\"Mount Princeton summit view to the east\" id=\"photonic-slideshow-flickr-1-36575654765\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t<li class=\"photonic-slideshow-img splide__slide\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"splide__slide__container\">\n\t\t\t\t<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/live.staticflickr.com\/4422\/36575654605_744120c882_z.jpg?w=474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"On top of Mount Princeton with Hieu Nguyen (L) and Ngoc Nguyen (R) looking west. 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<a href=\"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/2017\/08\/15\/mount-princeton-2017\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Mount Princeton, 2017<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,21,7],"class_list":["post-541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-colorado-14er","tag-mount-princeton","tag-philip-turk"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phk2e1-8J","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philturk.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/jpg01-copy.jpg?fit=680%2C510&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=541"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1409,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541\/revisions\/1409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philturk.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}