Tyler Johnson submitted this challenge, which climbs 3 popular summits near Missoula:
"I was inspired to do this run after growing up in Missoula and honestly from a shirt I had from the local running store in town, The Runners Edge. I've done it twice, with the 1st being my fastest. I call it the Missoula Mountain Trail Trifecta, It encompasses the 3 big trails from the valley that everyone runs/trains on, the M/Mt. Sentinel/University Mountain transition back to the valley peak out on Mt. Jumbo, transition through the valley one more time finishing off with Waterworks, 15.3 miles, 5050ft climb and 5020ft descent. Its sort of a classic connection of the 3 big in town trails and mountains in Missoula. The fun part is that that it can be done in almost any order, start with the tallest and work down, or start low and go high. There are also two options for descent from Mt Sentinel, the longer but less steep SmokeJumper Trail or to return the shorter but much steeper face down the way you came up. I doubt I am the first person to have done this but I don't see it listed. I also doubt my time will stand for any time at all given the many talented runners I know in Missoula and I'd love to see it go down. "
The route is from the first TH to the last TH.
Comments
I'm planning to try this tomorrow, looks like a fun route on the Missoula hills with a bunch of climbing. Maybe I can do it without too many wrong turns...
Completed this yesterday, fun run with some good climbs and great views. One note - Tyler's track doesn't go all the way to the top of Mt Jumbo, but it seemed obvious that I should follow the trail all the way up to the highest point. See my GPS file for the spot where I turned around.