Mount Princeton

Beautiful blue sky day (not too common this summer)! We hiked from the trailhead parking lot at 8900', leaving at 0605 and arriving at the top at about 1050. Left the dirt road for the trail at about 11800', and slowly transitioned from hiking to rock scrambling (especially up the talus to the main ridge line, and then frequently up the ridge line). Would recommend delaying the ascent to the ridge line until the main ridge line outcroppings are past, but not a big deal. We were the first up, and enjoyed 20 minutes alone on top taking in the 360 degree blue sky view of the surrounding mountains (great visibility)! No threatening weather at all made this a relaxing hike, and as this was our first 14er, we appreciated that. On the way down two hikers from Vermont (that we had met shortly after starting down) passed us at about 12,900' ... they were another Father/Daughter pair about the same age as us (54/19), but much more experienced. I'd love to be able to move as fast and surely as they could! Better hiking boots will help, but they had technique that just has to be learned with practice! Got to the bottom in 4 hours ... great day, and want to do another one!!! I went to Princeton and always wanted to hike Mt. Princeton, but after doing it I'd love to do more mountain hiking as the exercise and views were fabulous!