Bull Hill - 13761' - Class 2
March 2012
La Plata Peak from treeline on Bull Hill
|
So it was the last day before spring break started in March and I had just a couple days left to prepare for my upcoming climb of Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. I decided I would join Matt along with a few others on Mount Princeton Saturday before leaving Sunday for Mexico however I drove out early Friday morning the day before to do another hike by myself beforehand. I saw there was a recent trench made on Bull Hill, the highest "hill" in the world so I went for it. Shortly after the sun rose I was parked along Highway 82 and on my way hiking up an old road at first then on a trail up Echo Canyon. The trail was easy to follow thanks to a nice trench the whole way. Just as I neared treeline I saw the old mine track and headed up. Amazingly, tough 4WD vehicles can still drive to 13,000 feet on this track in summer. W continued all the way up on mainly bare rock (incredible for March!) to the mine. This was an interesting place that almost looked haunted. Just past the mine I crested the south ridge of Bull Hill and followed it easily to the summit. It was so warm out and calm I was able to sit on top for over a half hour. This is something I never thought possible in winter. Once I had my fill, I began running down the gentle ridge back to the mine. The hike out down the mine road and the trail back to the car went quick. I knew I needed to eat well that night since I was meeting friends at the Princeton trailhead the next morning so I stopped in Buena Vista for a nice dinner before driving to the Mount Princeton Road trailhead and going to sleep in the back of the car.
|
Mount Elbert from Bull Hill
Bull Hill summit view to the south
Mount Princeton - 14197' - Class 2
March 2012
Mount Antero from the summit of Mount Princeton
|
Early that next morning Matt, Lynn, Bryan and others from 14ers.com arrived and we all greeted one another. After getting gear packed up we started up the Princeton Road which was mainly an easy walk. There was only a couple inches at most on the road and we made quick time to the radio towers. This was my third time walking this stupid road so I was going to make sure we made the summit today. We continued on to treeline easily and started up the ridge to Tigger Peak. We avoided the traverse below Tigger Peak since we thought it may be an avalanche risk but we soon realized later this wasn't the case. The ridge heading up Tigger was actually pretty rough and tedious but we eventually made it and admired the view. The remainder of the traverse was in front of us. Off we went traversing the ridge and without incident, Bryan and I stumbled on the summit first with Matt and Lynn about 15 minutes behind. So we snapped a few photos and relaxed a few minutes. I was shocked to see cumulus clouds building so early in the season but it made the lighting very nice on the surrounding peaks. On our way down, we took the standard traverse below Tigger Peak since there was so little snow avalanches weren't even a concern. I ran on ahead on the hike back down the road since I had a flight to catch later that night. I made it back to Golden in plenty of time to prepare for my flight out.
|
Mount Princeton summit view
Mount Princeton summit view
|
Sunset over Princeton on the drive out
|
Mount Princeton from Tigger Peak
Buena Vista from the Princeton Road
|
Mount Princeton Route Map
|