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The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

1KHO 788: Become the Most Useful Person You Know | John Sowash, Bear Woods Resort & Campground

The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Ginny Yurich

Parenting, Kids & Family

4.82.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Go to bearwoodsresort.com/1000 to sign up for the Mother's Day Giveaway! A pile of tires, a broken-down property, and a decision that could have easily failed — that’s where this story starts. In this episode of The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast, Ginny sits down with longtime friend John Sowash, co-founder of Bear Woods Resort, to talk about what it actually takes to build something from scratch with five kids, limited resources, and no clear roadmap. From learning how to run heavy machinery to solving problems never encountered before, John shares how the hardest parts of the journey shaped the skills, confidence, and creativity that now serve both his family and the families who come to stay. This is a conversation about camping, Northern Michigan, entrepreneurship, and why the people who can do a little bit of everything are the ones everyone calls. Explore Bear Woods Resort and book your vacation at bearwoodsresort.com and join the Mother's Day Giveaway at bearwoodsresort.com/1000 ** A huge thank you to our sponsors! Check them ALL out below:  BetterHelp: Visit  ⁠www.BetterHelp.com/1000HOURS⁠  today to get 10% off your first month. Quince - Visit ⁠www.quince.com/outside⁠ and get free shipping and 365 day returns IXL Learning - Head to ⁠www.ixl.com/1000hours⁠ to get an exclusive 20% savings on your membership Whisker - Take care of your cats while taking an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000HOURS when you shop ⁠www.whisker.com/1000HOURS⁠  Skylight - Right now, Skylight calendar is offering our listeners $30 off their 15-inch calendar when you go to ⁠wwwlMySkylight.com/1000Hours⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

From the co-author of Attached, the book that reshaped our understanding of anxious, avoidant and secure attachment styles comes the new audiobook, Secure.

0:10.0

Dr. Amir Levine's latest research shows that those with secure attachment styles feel more at ease, both in their relationships and within themselves.

0:19.0

Learn how to rewire your attachment style and unlock

0:21.8

stronger relationships, better health, greater resilience, and more fulfilling life. Listen to Secure on Spotify

0:29.4

Now. Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside. My name is Ginny Urge and the founder of 1000 Hours

0:34.0

Outside. We're going to be talking about getting in your outside hours over the summer

0:38.7

through spending time at a campground or glamping or just being at a place where the kids can be

0:44.4

outside and owner and founder co-founder of bear woods resort co-founder with his wife

0:50.5

bearwoods resort and campground john so much welcome. Jenny, it's great to be here.

0:58.3

It's been a journey with this campground, but I'm happy to share and tell the story. So this is a

1:05.7

unique, I don't know if I've hardly ever had any of my like good friends on the podcast,

1:09.7

but we've been friends for a really long time and I was thinking back about when I met your wife Nellie. And I can remember where we were. You know, we were at Oak Point Church. I can remember the room. We were in a mom's group together. And then I was like, I have no idea when we met John. And also it is a rare thing in family friendships where like the wives connect, the husbands connect, the kids connect.

1:29.2

And so I feel like we've kind of found this golden unicorn but i was thinking about you know

1:34.7

we met close to 15 years ago at least i met nellie close to 15 years ago and we've gone on some pretty

1:42.0

cool trips and i was thinking back on the ones that we've gone on with our families like we've gone to north carolina together and we've gone on some pretty cool trips and I was thinking back on the ones that we've

1:44.2

gone on with our families like we've gone to North Carolina together and we've gone to

1:48.1

Virginia Sandbridge we've gone to several places in Michigan we've gone to Tennessee

1:54.3

South Carolina Pauley's Island and you know I was just thinking about how with each of the

2:00.9

trips, it's kind of easy to remember them because of the location in part. So we stayed at this

2:06.5

really cool place in Dale Hallow, Tennessee called the Holiday Hut. That was a wild one.

2:13.1

That was a wild one. It was like made out of a Kwanzen hut. And it was like this huge. And I always tell people like when I Airbnb, I always pick the one that's never been picked before. It's like brand new. You know, they usually like drop the price a little bit because they know there's going to be some kinks. You know, it's like, oh, the air conditioning and what stuff's not working. So we were the first people, I think, to stay at that Holiday Hut. Yes, all 10 of our children. It was great. Yeah, like a basketball court, like an incredible. So anyway, I just think, obviously, our families have done a lot over the years, but those are foundational, like, pillars of a friendship. And some of them have been bigger like the Quonson

2:51.2

hunt and some of them have just been like, you know, we're going to hang out in Grand Haven for

...

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