Mountain Madness Soap is squeaky clean. You can look but you won’t find any dirt on this Sherman Avenue business. 

What you will find is soap, sold online and at its shop. You will find friendly, knowledgeable staff. And you will find a creative, outgoing, energetic founder in Jennifer Morsell.

“I am grateful every day this is what I get to do,” she said. 

Growing up in family of five in North Pole, Alaska, one learns to live off the land, to see opportunities where others might not. 

Morsell saw soap. 

It was more than 25 years ago that she started experimenting with ingredients in the kitchen and making natural soap products as gifts for family and friends.  

It beat knick-knacks that end up collecting dust. 

“Soap was something I was always really drawn to,” she said. 

Success followed as she filled a need for a handmade product no one else had. It was then she saw the chance to take it beyond a hobby.

“Everybody loved it and wanted more,” she said. 

In 2000, while she was hiking on the Chilkoot Trail, the famous route of the Klondyke Golf Rush of 1897-98, the name Mountain Madness Soap came to mind. It stuck. 

She still has the backpack she was wearing on that trek that provided career inspiration.

The business expanded to craft fairs and then farmers markets. Today, Mountain Madness Soap employs 15, has a production warehouse on Schreiber Way, and offers about 50 products online and in its downtown store of about 15 years. 

It has a regular lineup of solid and liquid soaps, and a variety of seasonal scents, from The Goddess Collection to The Huckleberry Collection to the Tree Hugger Collections. 

Soap sounds simple. It's not. Morsell and husband Andy oversee operations together. 

Morsell continues to be fascinated by the chemistry and science of soap, of how different natural, high-quality ingredients create scents that are soothing, calming and pleasing to the skin.

“You choose what goes into it, you have complete control,” she said. 

“It's literally all chemistry. That is the part I really, really enjoy,” Morsell continued. "It’s satisfying when you make something that didn’t exist before."

Her lifestyle is reflected in the soaps,  

The avid hiker still loves to escape to the outdoors, where she draws insights flowers and trees.

“I'm always in creative mode,” she said. 

Morsell is the kind of person whose brain gets easily bored if not challenged. Owning a soap business provided that challenge and she’s always incorporating new things into the business, to keep it fresh, fun and exciting.

“It’s always evolving and changing,” she said. “You always pay attention to what people want, what the trends are."

Giving back is important to the Morsells.

Mountain Madness Soap offers a "Buy a Bar. Give a Bar" initiative. For every soap bar purchased, it will donate a bar of soap to someone in need.  

"Our goal is to help people maintain good health and hygiene, and to bring a little bit of kindness into the world," according to its website. "Whether it's for the unhomed, a family in need, or a community in a developing country, our goal is to make a difference, one bar of soap at a time."

While online and brick-and-mortar sales are about an even split, Morsell love the personal customer in the store.

“I love my job. I love the people I work with," she said. "It’s a dream."

Others are paying attention to Mountain Madness Soap.

PBS is planning a segment on the company later this year, taking a look at its innovation in a competitive field.

“You have to stay relevant,” Morsell said. “I want to stay motivated.” 

    Products at Mountain Madness Soap.

    The inside of Mountain Madness Soap's store in downtown Coeur d'Alene.