I’m Casey Greene, a creative thinker and doer based in Missoula, Montana.
I started my design life as a cartographer iterating mapping product for bicycle tourists.
It was during this time that I learned the hinderance of poorly designed products. When a user is in the middle of nowhere and they have to ride an additional 10 miles at the end of a long day because a product let them down, it’s a big deal. I often found myself gathering feedback and designing solutions to these pain-points.
Understanding the human experience is essential for creating useful and effective products. I enjoy using my skill set to empower people to accomplish their goals. I create experiences that make life easier.
Every map tells a story. But cartographer Casey Greene reads between the topo lines… An adventure savant of sorts, Greene’s ride doesn’t stop when the trail ends. He’s helped popularize a fringe sport called pack-biking, strapping his bike to his backpack to cross off-trail terrain before he can put two wheels back on the ground.
“Wilderness inspires adventure, and Casey Greene is an excellent example of that," said Gabriel Furshong, Montana Wilderness Association state program director. "I think it’s wonderful that he’s found a way to cross different boundaries creatively.”
“Don’t think of a route as just a line between a start and end,” says Casey Greene. “Don’t limit yourself.” It’s not just great advice from the man who maps bikepacking routes for the Adventure Cycling Association, it’s a great way to live – one that he seems to be embracing every day.
There’s a picture of Casey Greene floating around the internet that looks a little ridiculous. He’s walking up rocky singletrack through an evergreen forest toting a big red backpack. A disassembled bike is strapped to that backpack, and there’s a raft rolled up and strapped to the top of the bike. A neon-green trucker’s cap is hooked to one of the wheels, adding a bit of color. It’s all so very “Beverly Hillbillies,” in an adventurous, “What the hell is he doing?” sort of way.
Photography
I’m incredibly inspired by outdoor adventure, and photography helps me recover from when I feel creatively stunted.
Outdoor Writing
Years ago I had an outdoor adventure based blog. Below are a few of my favorite pieces from it.
How I Design Human-Powered Adventure
As a cartographer for Adventure Cycling Association, I spent heaps of timing studying the interplay between terrain and bikes, and as the architect of the Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route, I've learned what those lines really mean out there on the trail, and as a serial bikepacker, I've experienced more ups and downs than I can count. Human-powered adventure is challenging and amazing, and here is—in five unique steps—what I've learned about how to put together a trip.
Middle Fork of the Flathead
The CDT through hikers didn't know what to make of the sight in front of them. Which happened to be me, jogging up a dirt road 15 miles from the nearest paved road—at dusk—with no gear, no water, and asking them how much further the trailhead was. "I don't know, man. Maybe another mile, but there's no one up there, just a few cars."
Bikepacking Yaak’s Fire Lookouts
I'd been to these mountains before. I'd ridden my bicycle through them 4 years—what seems like a lifetime—ago. I'd never been so happy. Each night on that outing, myself and my friend Shaun had stayed at forest fire lookout towers, perched high on mountain tops. We had started in the Selkirk Mountains of north Idaho and seemed to dance across the peaks and river valleys right to the edge of Glacier National Park in Montana.