“Desert Alpinism” is a term coined by Seek Outside’s Lacie Jurado. It entails climbing desert towers in Western Colorado’s Colorado National Monument while scoping out the unique desert flora with her boyfriend Ryan (he loves flowers, too). Lacie hails from Winnemucca, Nevada but has been in the Grand Junction area for 8 years. While the radiology program at Colorado Mesa University drew her here, a seasonal job with the US Forest Service changed everything. She describes her prior self as “not outdoorsy at all,” but after spending a summer in Montana doing plant identification for the forest service, she “never looked back”. 

This year she is the Single-Track Trail Crew Leader and will spend the summer improving local bike and hiking trails with a team of students from Youth Conservation Corps. In the off-season, Lacie sews the Divide and Unaweep packs for Seek Outside. She taught herself how to sew last year so she could repair her own gear and clothing, and we are super happy she did! She is a much-loved part of the Seek Outside community!