Born and raised in Southern California, Cathy and her family spent every summer traveling the West from New Mexico to Montana. Along the way, she learned the joys of back roads and quiet places, the basic geology of mountains and mesas, and something of the history of the people who have called these lands home. She graduated from Pitzer College with a BA degree in Latin American Studies, spending summers at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Wyoming in Laramie. She received an MA in American Government from the Claremont Graduate School and a law degree from the University of Denver.