Cindy grew up in the heart of the Blackfoot Valley at the DNRC Clearwater Unit headquarters. She attended Sunset School, Seeley Lake Elementary, and Seeley Swan High School before moving to Missoula. Cindy received her BS in Forestry from the University of Montana and fought fire with the Seeley Lake Ranger District and the Missoula Smokejumpers. She then did a six-year stint in the US Army. She returned to Montana in 2006 and was hired at the Montana DNRC. She worked her way back to the Clearwater Unit where she was most recently a Trust Lands Management Forester. Cindy joined the Blackfoot Challenge in 2020. She especially loves hiking with her family, skiing, backcountry skiing, snowmobiling, and most recently playing ice hockey.