Mount
Princeton
Routed from OpenStreetMap · elevations USGS 3DEP
The Wheeler Survey first labeled the peak Chalk Mountain, for the white kaolinite Chalk Cliffs at its base along Chalk Creek; other early maps called it Princeton Mountain before the name settled. Survey topographer Henry Gannett, a Harvard graduate, is credited with the modern name, part of a wave of Ivy League names the surveyors gave the range's summits, including nearby Yale and Harvard.
The first recorded ascent came on July 17, 1877, when the Princeton graduate William Libbey reached the summit during the Princeton Scientific Expedition, a student research trip west. Libbey, later a Princeton professor of physical geography, is also credited with originating the university's orange and black colors. Rival Yale alumni reportedly piled summit rocks for years afterward trying to out-elevate Princeton's roughly one-foot lead.
2WD to the lower lot at 8,900 ft; CR 322 above is easy 4WD/AWD (recently rutted with deep holes) to radio towers at 10,800 ft and CR 322A at ~11,000 ft with only 5-6 spots (14ers.com trailhead page sw20 / route prin1). Road is narrow with few pull-offs.
No fees, no restrooms. Most parties drive partway up CR 322 — parking above is very limited; on busy weekends 14ers.com advises the lower lot. Winter: lower road closed. Source: 14ers.com trailhead page sw20.
Peak data: Mount Princeton — Wikipedia