Bushwhack Outdoor Company: CLC DIY Engineer

Local performers, artisans, DIY engineers, chefs and crafty innovators come together for the 10th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival at the Gallivan Center. This-three day weekend, Aug. 10–12, will encapsulate the craftsmanship that our city cultivates while celebrating Utah’s movers and shakers. Spread across the breadth of these pages are peeks into some of what this year’s DIY Festival will feature. Bring your family, friends, lovers to enjoy what this year’s festival has to offer! Visit craftlakecity.com to learn more about this community enriching event!

Every ounce counts on a long backpacking trip. Toting along something to sit on is a luxury that most avid backpackers aren’t willing to afford themselves. Although, sitting on the pokey, dusty ground for a weekend in the woods or desert isn’t ideal, either. Hence, the TIO Tent is a brilliant three-in-one tent that provides outdoors folk with a place to park their can after a long hike, without adding poundage.

“After multiple camping trips, a fully loaded pack and not much room for gear, I started to think of ways I could create a piece of gear that would be beneficial,” says Chase McMicken, the founder of Bushwhack Outdoor Company (@bushwack_outdoor_co) and creator of the TIO. “That’s when I came up with the idea of a three-in-one solution.”

The minds at Bushwhack, which include those of McMicken, Branson McKell, Jake Rubart and Jordan Manor, are hard at work getting the product some deserved buzz, and hopefully, some interested buyers down the road. The concept is simple: The TIO Tent has three combinations suitable for multiple camping scenarios. This makes things flexible for different situations and individual needs. “You can set up three different combinations of gear: a two-person backpacking tent and a chair, a flat-lay hammock tent in the trees or a traditional hammock and chair,” McMicken says.

Bushwhack has received funds from the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to create a functional prototype (pictured) the company plans to take into the wild for field testing. Once their idea is sanded and polished to perfection, they hope to begin manufacturing.“We are hoping to launch a Kickstarter campaign by next summer and hopefully start selling units after that.”

Check out Bushwhack’s booth to see scale models and the actual prototype to learn about the potential and ease of use the TIO Tent has to offer. The company is looking forward to being a part of the creative community in Salt Lake, and receiving invaluable feedback from fellow nature lovers looking to shed some weight while still adding some comfort to their trips.