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Crystal Hidde is the founder of Roots to Ridges: Women’s Wildness Institute.  She is a published author, and holds a degree in Early Childhood Development. She founded the organization after completing a 430-mile solo hike on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Crystal grew up in Cave Junction, a small town located on the outskirts of Josephine county of Southern Oregon.  As a child, Crystal spent much of her time in the wilderness and at the rivers.  She is the youngest of Nine children and was raised by her parents, Edward and Ladonna Murphy.

Crystal graduated from Illinois Valley High School in 1998, and then earned her Bachelors of Science Degree at Southern Oregon University in Ashland Oregon in 2013. She is currently employed as an Education Supervisor.

In 2014 she joined the Jackson County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team; where she was able to combine her love for helping others and her desire to be outdoors.   In addition to her SAR training, that same year she completed the Tom Brown Jr. standard course for wilderness survival and tracking, in New Jersey. There, she completed an intensive week long course in primitive outdoor survival techniques.

In 2015 she completed 430 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail through her home state of Oregon.  After completion she was inspired to share her journey and wrote Oregon Uncaged: A Tale of Two-Sips on the Pacific Crest Trail.  Wanting to inspire, educate, and empower more women in the outdoors, Roots to Ridges: Women’s Wildness Institute was founded in 2016. A nonprofit organization where women can come together, work together, and learn together through outdoor education and back country experiences. 

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