doing this blog thing

When I decided I wanted to do outdoor education, my first thought was to write a blog. I have been a writer since I was a kid, so it made sense.

But no one reads blogs anymore, do they?

So I took to video. YouTube it was. I had never edited anything in my life, but I’d figure it out. I filmed an intro video while on a hike, barely edited it, got it live, and a channel was born.

But let’s back up.

What made me decide to start doing outdoor education in the first place?

I’ve hiked for as long as I can remember. I’ve learned along the way how to improve my own relationship with and impacts on nature. As I spend time outside, I’ve seen a variety of negative behaviors, some impacting not only nature, but the experience of other people outdoors. While I know some people are willfully behaving this way, I’d like to think most people do better once they know better. I wondered if the information was really out there if people searched for it. Some of it was, but sometimes we need to hear it or see it a different way with a different voice. I wanted to share not only the “shoulds” of being outside (trail etiquette, Leave No Trace, etc.), but also my own mistakes and mishaps to help others learn.

One afternoon in June 2021, I took my stepdaughter to her other parent’s home, and had a two hour drive home. Doing this YouTube thing hit me like a ton of bricks. My mind racing at a million miles an hour, I spoke talk-to-text into my phone, listing idea after idea for what I wanted to do with this channel, video ideas, how I wanted this to be inclusive, how I wanted to share ideas for advocacy and stewardship and help shape the next generation of outdoorsfolk.

I discussed it with my wife, who was understandably quite unsure of the whole thing. Who even HAS a YouTube channel, anyway? How much time was this going to take up? How much would it cost to do? A lot was in the air, and I didn’t have a lot of answers. I knew it would require figuring it out as we went.

I took the first video live on July 3, 2021.

Now we are 3 years into this journey, and as journeys tend to go, it has taken a life of its own. People have reached out with their stories of how this has changed their lives. My own life has changed significantly in that time as well.

So circling back to this blog, where do I want this to go?

I hope to provide some education here, too, but I want to be able to share some different content than I’m able to share on the channel. We will see where this takes us.

Thank you for being along for the ride.