“Finn Murphy’s misadventures on the wild hemp frontier brim with wit, pluck, and hard-won wisdom. Rocky Mountain High is a roller-coaster ride through the green gold rush, a rollicking cannabis caper full of dissolving profits and indelible characters.”
— Jessica Bruder, best-selling author of Nomadland
Rocky Mountain High — Coming in Paperback in June 2024!
A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West
The best-selling author of The Long Haul returns with the story of ditching his truck to seek his fortune … in hemp.
“Murphy is a writer with the rare ability to transform prodigious note-taking and bookkeeping skills (born of a meticulous business acumen, no doubt) into gripping prose.” — Nicholas Martin, THE NEW YORK TIMES
“[Murphy] is a great storyteller who tells other people’s stories with as much gusto as he tells his own…. ‘Rocky Mountain High’ is a cautionary tale told with a good deal of wit and a refreshing lack of self-pity.” — Wendy Smith, BOSTON GLOBE
Apple Books has chosen ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH among its “Most Anticipated Books” for 2023!
fter decades as a long-haul trucker, Finn Murphy left the road and settled in Boulder County, Colorado. Before long he noticed that many of his neighbors were captivated by the prospect of vast riches in “the Hemp Space.” When hemp was legalized, after eighty years in federal exile, Colorado became the center of a hemp growing and processing boom. Figuring he’d harvest some of that easy money, Murphy bought a thirty-six-acre farm. What could go wrong? Well, pretty much everything…
Rocky Mountain High is the comic chronicle of a wild year as Murphy follows his Great American Dream, gradually losing his shirt but not his spirit. Pivoting away from growing hemp himself, he decides to make himself a middleman. He builds drying sheds the size of football fields. He battles with freezing temperatures and even colder bankers. And he assembles an eclectic crew of workers, including the wry and vastly talented Manuel, the business savvy Pierce, and a scruffy army of “trimmigrants” — specialized farm laborers who roam the country pursuing (or not) their own American Dreams. Pretty soon, Murphy is pitting his dwindling cash against the mercurial buyers who inhabit the Wild West of the hemp market.
Told with Murphy’s trademark wit, keen eye for character, and sharp insights into the hardscrabble society around him, Rocky Mountain High is an inside look at the alluring world of the hemp boom and a masterful tale of one entrepreneur’s misadventures.
People Magazine: “A Smart, Funny Ride.”
Pre-order Rocky Mountain High in Paperback Today!