We have a website! Lets talk about what Ohio, Wild Outdoors is and why I created it.

Thank you for checking out the site. I have been busy getting content together for the YouTube channel. The most recent video is here: https://youtu.be/WrE-EEH67mA

Now, what are we doing here? Let me explain whats going on. A few years ago I had decided to buy a tent. I had the experience where I got on the internet to look at reviews for the tent in question. I ran into 3 things 1) reviews that basically repeated the marketing material printed on the box, without ever elaborating on any of it 2) video reviews that demonstrated the various "features" (read as, repeated the marketing material printed on the box) without ever discussing how these various features actually make the tent better than its competitors in real life situations and finally 3) lists of products "top 10 backpacking tents of 2018" that just did point #1 and then tried to claim product superiority based on that information. This was something that really annoyed me. Primarily because the decision points always focused on the features and cost. But at no point are features shown to be "useful" and the cost is always thrown in as a sort of tie breaker.

Now of course, who am I? What gives me the righteous authority to condemn these kind of reviews? NOTHING. I'm just a dude. I've never hiked the Application Trail. I've never camped, suspended from rope half way up 1000 foot cliff. But! I, as a regular guy, who doesn't live and breath that stuff every waking minute of every day, get really annoyed, when I want to buy a tent for camping and am unable to get a solid "Yes, this is a reasonable product - for your intended use, or No, this is way over priced and has features that you won't need or use - your intended use will not require these features or justify this price".

If you asked a buddy, they would tell you straight out, "no, you don't need to run to the store and buy a $500 - $750 dollar tent for camping, if you're only going to use it twice a year. You may, want to look at one of the $250 tents, if you are through hiking the AT though." And that is what is missing from many of the reviews that I saw or read, that dose of reality.

That, is an extremely long intro to this basic point, I will be doing product review videos - and product comparison videos - from the perspective of "i have used this, these are my thoughts on it, and yes, if you intend to only car-camp once or twice a year, buy the $50 wally-world tent and have a nice weekend".

The other primary point of the channel is to show people what Ohio has on offer. I made this statement in the most recent video and I'll reiterate it here, along with an explanation "Ohio has a nasty reputation for being highways and cornfields, and while that is a bit undeserved, I understand where it comes from."

In my youth, I traveled for work and have had the great fortune to have seen many of the 48 and every where I went, that was what people said about Ohio. Some of those folks only ever drove through Ohio, on there way to someplace else. Some, came to Ohio for college and left when they were finished. Some had lived in Ohio for some amount of time and moved out of state. Only a very small handful had ever seen things like Old Man's Cave (spoiler alert, its a tourist destination and quite busy most of the time- but it will still be on the channel) or some of the other more popular parks. At the same time, I have been out at some of these places and just overwhelmed with this desire to share the moment with people. I can't tell you how many times I have been to places, taken pictures, showed them to people and they ask "Is that in Ohio?" in the sort of tone of voice that means they expect me to answer with "No, that was Tennessee" or something along those lines.

So that's it, I want to share with the world some of the awesome stuff that the natural wild life of Ohio has to offer.

Last note - as this goes forward I assume I may get a company or two asking me to review a product and I'm open to that, but be forewarned, I call stuff as I see it and if its overpriced, I'll say it, if its crap, I'll say it and if its overpriced and crap I'll say that as well. If the marketing wank on the box gives the impression that it should be good for a particular use case and its not, I'll say that as well.

For the curious, the tent in question was this, the old color style of the Eureka! Solitaire: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EQCVNY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Which was $80 and the new version, in different colors is now a little over $100.

Of course, I can't talk all this about Ohio and its natural beauty without a picture or two, so here you go.

Rock House

Timber Ridge

Ash Cave

Innis Woods