Odyssey Packs is veteran owned and operated. Odyssey pack designs have extensively been informed by thru-hiking, backpacking as a U.S. Army infantryman, U.S. Army Ranger school, combat infantry maneuvers in the mountains of Afghanistan, and 6 and half years of backpack fitting while working for a premier outdoor retailer.

And one evening in the summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, I found myself on the John Muir Trail in California searching for answers.

The world was unraveling - and so was I. My marriage was falling apart. My career path was shifting. My sense of self was barely hanging on. Every step southbound out of Yosemite felt heavier than the last, and I remember even asking myself what I was doing out there. What was I trying to prove?

By the time I reached Silver Pass, my body ached and my thoughts spiraled into shame, regret, and loneliness. I felt utterly defeated. And then - just as the sun was setting at my back - I saw her, walking in the opposite direction literally and metaphorically...

A lone backpacker stepping into an open field, maybe about 100 yards off trail. She was radiant in the fading light.

It was as if the sun itself had rolled out a golden carpet beneath her feet - just for her. Smiling ear to ear, she walked without hurry. She walked without fear. And without the invisible weight I had then been dragging for years.

She was absolutely free…

And in that moment, something inside of me cracked wide open. I realized that the thing I wanted more than anything… wasn’t success, it wasn’t money, and it wasn’t even to fix what had been lost in my life.

What I wanted was freedom.

Freedom from the weight.

Freedom from the shame.

Freedom from the chains of my own mind!

And in that instant, I knew: if I could ever find it, I would spend the rest of my life helping others find it, too.

That was the night Odyssey was born - not as a brand, but as a vow. A vow to build something that carried not just gear, but the hope of liberation. Packs designed not only to hold your essentials, but to carry your story, your self expression, your own freedom. Because the trail doesn’t just take you somewhere. It sets you free.

And I want that for others, too. So that’s it. Odyssey Packs are made with love to set you free.

Why the name Odyssey? Because each of us is on our own journey to discover our true home. And like Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey, I, too, feel like I am a soldier still trying to come home from war.