Fugue...

Early morning. Before the sun peeks out from behind the peaks. Hydrate. Fuel. Out into the crisp, cool air. Ride out of town. Down the highway, turning onto country lanes.

Heading up Butler Creek Rd. my destination is visible in the distance.

The rolling hills, tall grasses, ranches and fields quickly gave way to forests. The road pointed skyward and the climbing absolutely did not let up at all for the next 10 miles.

Switching up the Point Six road.

I made a wrong turn and did an unnecessary but overall rewarding climb up to the top of TV Mountain (6,837 ft.). I was a little confused at this point because the road basically disappeared. I could see Point 6, but not how to get there. Then I realized I would have to go back down and take the turn I missed. That's cool, another 1000 feet of climbing for the day, and some really cool radio towers and dishes.

Radio installation on top of TV Mountain.

I zoomed back down to the Point Six turnoff and slowly climbed up to the top of Snowbowl. A quick stop at the A-frame for a bio break and a look around.

You can see clear across the eastern part of the valley in this picture, even with all the haze.
Grant, Woods and Rattlesnake, Sentinel/University Mountain, Dean Stone, Miller,
and even the Bitteroot in the far distance.

There's always time to stop and look at flowers.

After a little break, it was time to press on. I had my doubts about reaching the peak. It still looked like a lot of climbing. In the end, I made it to the ski area boundary, parked the bike, and started hiking.

Leaving my bike to make the final ascent on foot.

Good thing, too. This last bit was STEEP and loose.
Of course, I went up the talus two track and then realized there was a road.
Did I mention I was a little tired by this point?

I just couldn't get over how perfect and inviting this incredibly
steep road lined with purple wildflowers was at the time.
Exertion and altitude make everything much more interesting.

Looking back towards Snowbowl over the rocks and wildflowers.

This is the enclosure for the weather radar.
Looks like a giant soccer ball.

Murphy Peak in the foreground,
the Mission Mountains (still heavily snowcapped in July) at the horizon. 

Looking the other direction, into Rattlesnake Wilderness.
Talus cirques, glacial lakes, my kind of country.

I made my way back down to the bike and picked my way over toward Snowbowl. The idea was to find the Beargrass Highway (a singletrack mountain bike trail that runs from the top to the parking area at the base) but I didn't know exactly where to find it. In my exhaustion and confusion, I had a great idea... I was at a ski area! I'll just hop on one of the ski runs and follow it until I hit the trail!

Nice. The first part was a bit of bike portage down the side of the mountain and over rocks and logs. Not fun, but just another part of the adventure, right? I began regretting this decision, but ended up having some of the best riding of the day because of it. I reached an intersection where Paradise meets Centennial which traversed across the slope. It was a mild rock garden with plenty of techy maneuvering.

Mmmm... I like rocks.

I like to ride on them.

Even better if they are camouflaged in grass for that surprise factor.
Just flow.

Really, given the lack of anything other than baby-butt smooth singletrack around here, completing a rocky, grassy, obstacle strew bushwack across a ski run was pretty awesome. And at the end, I found:

Yup... Beargrass Highway. A trail. A supremely awesome trail.

Words really cannot do this kind of singletrack-heaven justice.

Smooth and flowy without being boring,
a long descent that can keep my interest is very good.

All the way to the bottom of Snowbowl.

From the long climb, to the steep hike, to portaging and scrambling, then techy biking in the rocks, and a long flowy singletrack... the dirt road to the parking lot was a major downer. 

Dry, hot, dusty, and still a long way to go.

Then miles more of dusty high speed descending along more dirt road. And finally back to the pavement. 

And across Grant Creek, back in the valley.

I stopped taking pictures at this point. By the time I reached home: 42 miles. 6000 feet of climbing. Summits made of TV Mountain (6817 ft.) and Point Six (7929 ft.). A little less than 8 hours elapsed time.

In other news, Julian wanted to go for a bike ride when I got home. I told him "No way, dude." And Rene is coming home from a week at camp tomorrow. So I guess I really did sneak this experience in... barely. Now, back to the present... focus, man. I think I left part of my mind on that mountain.