eXplore Brown County
Gary Bartels, owner of eXplore Brown County.
~ story and photos by Chrissy Alspaugh
The memories thousands of Americans have made zip-lining, playing paintball, camping, offroading, mountain-biking, enjoying music festivals, and more at eXplore Brown County all began with one man and one family meeting.
When Gary Bartels inherited 500 acres of woods in 1994, he was working as a patent engineer for Columbus’ Arvin Automotive. He remembers the day he sat down with his wife and two sons, then ages 8 and 12, and made a proposition.
“ I told them, we can sub-divide [ the land ], sell it, and retire. Or … we can sacrifice summers and weekends to build something together. My boys, Chris and Lance, came back two weeks later with a list of demands: two-hour lunches, ice cream, swimming, and that I hire their friends. We made our deal,” said the now 73-year-old, laughing.
Bartels said as an engineer, he knew that lacking a plan— and a backup plan— would result in failure.
Bartels and his wife, art teacher and painter Patricia Rhoden Bartels, laid out a seven-year plan to build what they thought would be a small campground and banquet hall for weddings or corporate retreats.
As for the back-up plan,“ We knew that even if this place failed, our boys would’ ve built a work ethic and lots of really practical skills like determination and troubleshooting,” Bartels said.
And so, a trajectory of fun for his family and countless others began.
As time and cash allowed, Bartels and his boys used trees harvested from the property and their own sawmill to build about one group camping cabin each year and the property’ s featured Harvest Hall.
Many of the activities the family added to the park stemmed from their own interests. An avid mountain
24 Our Brown County • July / August 2024