Who We Are

Be Curious, Not Judgemental [Walt Whitman]

It's always exciting to plan a trip into the unknown – but half of the problem of planning a trip is the unknown. In 2024, as I spent time trying to identify places to do overnight backpacking near a new city, the idea of Jaxbend was formed. The realization that there is no public platform to browse where others have been adventuring.

We're all adventurers, and for some places like the national parks, there are plenty of travel blogs to learn from. But, for a little weekend trip to escape the city – sources start to get limited. We're often doing our best to browse government websites, identify fees, sort out exactly what the location will provide, and uncover as many of the unknowns as possible. This can create a significant barrier to planning a trip that often leads to spending another weekend in front of the television instead of getting out and exploring.

Jaxbend aims to support the planning process into the unknown and ultimately, remove barriers to enjoying a trip – leveraging every-day travelers to share their knowledge with others.

Jaxbend

The name, "Jaxbend", comes from an adventure of my own – my second trip down the Au Sable River with a few friends and my wife. For me, it was my second time making the trek – for everyone else in the party – it was their first.

It was a trip where everything went wrong… we missed coordinating the meeting point in an area with no cellphone reception – which led to us sleeping in the parking lot. Our second day of the kayak trip thus had a huge amount of distance to travel.

Exhausted when we hit the slow-down in the river due to an upcoming dam, familiar landscapes started to register for me and I kept egging everyone on, "I think I recognize this, we should be able to see the campsite just around the next bend."

I was wrong… (more than once)… about it being "just around the next bend". It took two more hours of paddling through slow water before we finally reached our campsite.

My wife would tease me after that, "Oh sure, it's just around the next bend, right?"

Just Around The NeXt Bend

It was a terrible trip, but an excellent adventure. I wouldn't trade those memories for the world.