Mount Jumbo is one of two distinctive hills rising on the northern edge of the city of Missoula, Montana. The hill is marked with a gigantic letter "L", after St. Ignatius Loyala . The top of Mount Jumbo is about 4,400 feet above sea level (although the valley it rises above is already over 3,000 feet high) , and the mountain runs for several miles in length. The name of the mountain supposedly comes from Jumbo, a famous circus elephant.
The mountain is surrounded on both sides by rivers, on one side by the Clark Fork and on the other by Rattle Snake Canyon. On the other side of the Clark Fork rises Mount Sentinel, and in the space between them is The Hellgates, a narrow gap that was the site of many battles.
Mount Jumbo vegetation is mostly in the form of tall grasses, with a few scrubby pine trees growing in gullies along its sides. The wildlife is rather extensive, and much of the the mountain is closed in winter to provide breeding ground to Elk.
Other than the winter closing for wildlife purposes, the mountain is open to hikers, and one trail, the trail to the gigantic "L", is open year round. The view from even halfway up the mountain is incredible, showing Missoula, Rattle Snake Canyon, The Saphire Mountains and the Bitterroot Mountains.
The hills sides have dozens of horizontal stripes, especially noticable when it is covered with snow, that are supposedly the shorelines of Glacial Lake Missoula.