Our Mission

Our mission is to responsibly educate others on the great places to explore in the Midwest and the best ways to experience them. It's time to find your traveling spirit.

What is Resanda?

Resanda is a resource for anyone interested in exploring the outdoors of Wisconsin, upper Michigan, and more.

The idea started because I would always get asked, "Where should we go for a good hike?" or "Any cool places I should check out when I'm there?"

That's how Resanda was born.

A website that will be filled with hiking guides, beautiful photography, and everything you need to know before you hit the trail.

Who is Resanda?

Resanda was created by me, Jacob Miller. Many know me online as the "Kinetic Bear." I've been exploring the Midwest for most of my life. I've always loved the beauty that the area has to offer. Resanda is a way for me to document and share my favorite places.

By day I am a Marketing & Brand Manger for Headway. My background is in photography, video production, and writing. Resanda is a way for me to continue to experience the outdoors and educate others along the way.

What does Resanda mean?

It means the "the spirit of travel."

"Resanda" is actually a word I created from two Swedish words, resa and anda.

Resa means "travel" or "trip" and anda means "spirit" in Swedish.

My great grandfather came from Hudiksvall, Sweden to North America years ago. I was inspired to find words from the Swedish language to celebrate his courage to travel to the U.S. and find roots in the Midwest.

Hopefully the content and words I create will inspire others to explore new places like he did.

What is the plan for Resanda?

Resanda is a long term project for me. I started writing the content in early 2018, but I have lots of photos from my travels.

Right now, I am looking forward to adding to it for the next 5 years to see how it unfolds. Do people actually find value in it? Can I make the content better? Will I make video a focus to match the photography?

A lot of the efforts to make it better come down to having the time, energy, and focus to make it happen.

I'm a guy with a lot of passions, including music.

So I might end up adding musical sessions with artists at locations too. There are lots of opportunities for Resanda. It's in its infancy, so there is room for evolution.

I'm considering creating apparel and prints, but I want to focus on the content first. No sense in making a brand if it doesn't reflect a purpose.

Hope: Impacting local tourism

While I don't consider myself a professional when it comes to tourism, I always think there is room for growth. With programs like Pure Michigan making a great impact, I would love to see how Resanda can assist the Midwest.

Here are some topics that run around in my head when it comes to the outdoors and tourism.

Understanding the issues

With outdoor tourism there are three places of impact when solving problems:

1. The traveler/consumer

2. The organizations that provide access to locations

3. The environment

Tourism can be incredible for economic impact, but at what cost?

While it's great to look into opportunities for creating awareness and getting more people to explore locations like state parks, there needs to be conversations around impact. Can places like state parks handle more volumes of people with their current staff size and budget?

Probably not.

Are the these new visitors educated on how to respect these locations and make a difference on the environment?

Some of these issues can be hard to tackle, but not impossible. Problems get solved by starting a conversation, asking questions, testing solutions, and executing.

I would like to start writing articles sharing information on what organizations are doing to help with these issues and ways we can all make a difference on the environment when we travel.

Connection: Physical and mental health

Physical health may be a common benefit to spending time outdoors, but mental health is just as important. If not more so. I would love to find ways to educate others on the benefits of spending time outdoors. I also want to create awareness for organizations doing their part on these important issues.

Moving forward the right way

I have a lot of cool ideas for Resanda, but I want to make sure I understand the outcomes. Our planet is not a simple thing. It's a beautiful organism. And we need to better understand it, question how we treat it, and consider the risks we create when we pursue ideas.

My goal for right now is to create awareness and education to properly represent the beautiful places in the Midwest.

I think that is the best place to start.

Interested in collaborating or contributing?

I would love to hear what you’re passionate about and how we can work together to make a difference. Contact me so we can talk!