In this world, there are people who live the strenuous life—long, hard days outside in punishing conditions—and there are companies that make their gear. From the battlefield to the backcountry, from the edge of a raging wildfire to the top of a 15,000-foot peak, MYSTERY RANCH supplies these stalwart souls with backpacks to match their boldness.
Conceived in the Rocky Mountains and used all over the world, MYSTERY RANCH packs have always had a single purpose: to minimize the burden on your back. Which in turn maximizes your strength, speed, and overall performance—as a soldier, firefighter, hunter, skier, climber, or whatever bold and strenuous activity you call your own.
How you spend your time is who you are. MYSTERY RANCH spends their time making the best load-hauling backpacks in the world—and using them, every day. Sewers set out at lunch for a quick lap at the local trailhead, while designers gather to plan the next day’s dawn patrol. Weekends are spent in the mountains; Mystery Ranch's product testers return to work with broad smiles, stories to share, and worn-out dogs that snooze at their feet. Their enticement is alpine air and adrenaline; their reward, flushed faces and lactic acid in the legs. Mystery Ranch embraces the strenuous life, and outdoor adventure is their passion.
With great passion, of course, comes great power—which in our case means the power to improve backpack design. And, that’s precisely what has happened since 2000, when MYSTERY RANCH was born in the burgeoning outdoor oasis of Bozeman, Montana. Founders Dana Gleason and Renée Sippel-Baker brought decades of industry experience to bear, furthering their longtime goal of making backpacks better, stronger, more flexible and durable—and, above all, more comfortable to carry when loaded.
Built on the bedrock of Dana Design and other renowned outdoor brands, MYSTERY RANCH has since become a bastion of load-bearing R&D. From the first Navy SEALs who placed a custom order to the thousands of elite soldiers who now rely on us to keep their loads as secure, stable, and pain-free as possible, it’s always been about doing the best for the best. Because as far as we’re concerned, nothing else is worth doing.
Moreover, nothing else so strongly drives the central imperative: the pursuit of perfection. The best fabrics. The best frames. The best technology. The best people and the best ideas. Mystery Ranch listens to customers’ problems and then does everything they can to solve them. They do this with a potent admixture of collaboration, creativity, and audacity. Not to mention hard work—and lots of it. Mystery Ranch makes backpacks, after all, and they make them for the long haul.
As the old saying goes, quality is never an accident—it is always the result of intelligent effort. With a synergistic blend of pack-building prowess and exacting customer demands, Mystery Ranch produces simple, practical designs that are inherently purposeful: tools, not toys. Another unassailable adage: form follows function. Their packs have a job to do, and they make damn sure they’ll do it right—all day, every day.
At MYSTERY RANCH, the mission is to support your mission—whatever that may be. Their customers are the rough and rugged ones of this Earth, those ambitious men and women with a lust for adventure and an affinity for struggle—be it occupation or recreation, perilous profession or ardent pastime, daily duty or weekend escape. They’re discriminating people in demanding conditions; they must haul more and hurt less; they cannot—and will not—fail. And, if we have anything to say about it, neither will their gear.