July 18th, 2024: It’s the wilderness that gets you… these little pockets of magic hiding in plain sight. Point Six might not be the tallest peak around Missoula, but there’s something about it that keeps pulling me back, especially in summer when the valley’s cooking like an oven. The mountain’s always got something new to show you.
I could bore you with the stats (and I probably will). Standing at nearly 8,000 feet, Point Six isn’t trying to compete with the big boys of the Rockies. It’s got this modest prominence of 440 feet, give or take. But numbers don’t capture what makes this place special. They can’t tell you about how the wildflowers explode across the slopes in a riot of colors that’d make an artist weep.
Those white bell-shaped blossoms tucked between the rocks? They somehow find enough soil to thrive where nothing should. Incredible, really. And then there’s those bright yellow clusters reaching toward the sun like they’re trying to outshine it. The mountain’s got its own garden show going, and we’re just lucky spectators.
The views from up there… that’s the real payoff. The Rattlesnake Mountains stretch out before you like some ancient sleeping beast, all green ridges and valleys carved by time and weather. On clear days you can see forever, I swear. The perspective makes you feel small in the best possible way… like your problems don’t amount to much in the grand scheme.
There’s this little stream that cuts through one section of the trail, water so clear and cold it hurts your teeth. It’s probably been flowing that way since before people ever set foot here. Makes you think about permanence and change all at once.
Yeah, they’ve got the Snowbowl down below, and there was talk years back about expanding ski runs up toward Point Six. Part of me is glad they never did. Some places should stay a little wild, a little hard to reach. Makes the effort worth it.
The weather station up there’s been silently watching it all, measuring wind speeds and temperatures while the seasons change around it. Recording data nobody really sees but somehow everybody needs. Kinda poetic, in its way.
I don’t know what it is about mountains that makes you philosophical. Maybe it’s the thin air, maybe it’s just being surrounded by something so much older and more permanent than yourself. Either way, Point Six delivers. Not bad for a little peak with a number for a name.
Boneshakerbike 
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