Mary Murphy

Contributing writer and managing editor

Mary cheesing on La Plata Peak. Selfie by author.

Mary Murphy was born in South Florida, but split her time growing up between the oceans of the East coast and the mountains of Colorado. Paddling is one of her passions: if it involves a river, creek, or alpine lake, she’s in. Mary enjoys pack-paddleboarding, kayaking, and packrafting on adventures out West from Colorado to Utah, Florida, Thailand, Mexico, and beyond. Mary has WFR, and her ACA SUP Instructor, Flatwater Rescue, and ACA Swiftwater Rescue certifications. Her other main pasttime when it comes to the outdoors is hiking and backpacking. She’s section-hiked on the CDT, CT, and AT, and backpacked throughout the U.S., Canada, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, and Nepal.

In college, Mary and her friend Sarah set a self-supported 116km SUP record thru-paddle in British Columbia. After college, Mary worked for an outdoor skills camp, teaching kids the joys and essential skills for kayaking, biking, and more. You’ll likely find her somewhere along Colorado’s Front Range mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, backpacking, SUPing, scrambling up a 14er, or picnicking. In the winter, she skis, snowshoes, and ice climbs. She’s based in Golden, Colo and is a self-proclaimed gear nerd.

Mary ice climbing in January in Colorado.