Today we’d like to introduce you to Joe Bassett.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m the husband of one, dad of three, and Papa of 5 (soon to be 6).
Oh, I’m also the founder and lead guide of Valiant Outfitters—and I make my living taking people into the woods to get dirty. Through backpacking trips and hard-earned wilderness experiences, we help folks strip life down to the essentials, relearn old skills, and rediscover a confidence that doesn’t come from screens or comfort. Based in northeast Florida but shaped by a childhood roaming the woods of the northeast from Western New York to Northeast Pennsylvania, to New England. I carry the lessons of those landscapes into every trip I guide and course I teach: the woods don’t care who you are, but they’ll help you become who you can be if you pay attention.
I also just co-authored my first book, Emergency Communications 101, with Creek Stewart. It was just released by Simon & Schuster in November of 2025. We translate years of survival experience into real-world readiness when things go sideways. It’s written specifically for families that need to include back-up communication in their disaster plan. Of course, here in northeast Florida, we all need a disaster plan for the next hurricane. If you live in Florida and don’t have a little prepper in you, you’re not doing it right. Our book is available at our website, www.valiantoutfitters.com, and wherever books are sold. We also offer courses in disaster preparation and communications for absolute beginners through seasoned hurricane hunters.
You can find Valiant Outfitters mentioned in Men’s Journal, Willowhaven Outdoors, The New York Post, Reader’s Digest, and even Food Network. Just Google “Joe Bassett Valiant Outfitters.”
As the son of two busy Salvation Army officers (pastors), I had a lot of free-range time as a kid—some might even say *feral.* I spent it roaming the woods, building shelters, and fishing when I should’ve been in school. When I wasn’t exploring outdoors, I was in the library reading about explorers like Lewis and Clark, Shackleton, and Peary, or studying the Tom Brown field guides that sparked my lifelong love of bushcraft. (For the record, I don’t recommend skipping school to chase your dreams—but it worked out for me.)
By my teens, I was working summers at wilderness camps for at-risk youth—many of them started by my dad. After barely graduating high school, I attended Asbury College (now Asbury University) in Kentucky, where I majored in music education. That’s also where I met Jennifer, the love of my life. I supported our small family through college as a professional musician, eventually earning my degree and landing a position in Manhattan as the Salvation Army’s **Director of Camping and Boys’ Ministries** for the Eastern Territory.
The job brought me close to both the city’s creative pulse and the wilderness I loved. I performed with some well-known artists along the way, but the spotlight never held me for long. My true calling kept pulling me back outdoors, eventually leading me to start Valiant Outfitters.
Over the years, I’ve followed countless interests, but reading has been the gateway to nearly all of them. One of those passions is **amateur (ham) radio**, especially in disaster communications. I’ve deployed my equipment and skills after more than eight hurricanes, including traveling to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria to help the Red Cross restore emergency communication. Wilderness survival, austere living, and radio work all came together in those moments of crisis—and reminded me why I do what I do.
In 2020, survivalist and TV personality Creek Stewart invited me to create a ham radio course for his online training platform, outdoorcore.com. Since then, we’ve collaborated on several projects. The most recent is co-authoring Emergency Communication 101, for Simon & Schuster, released in November 2025.
Today, I’m as active as ever. I hike, backpack, fish, and hunt—recently taking up bowhunting just after my sixty-first birthday. Staying fit for guiding, volunteer work, and keeping up with grandkids on the trail means running 5–10K three times a week and weight training on the others.
After sixty-two orbits around the sun, I’ve learned that being wrong feels exactly like being right—you don’t know you’re lost until after you’re lost. Lifelong learning, mentally and physically, is how you stay found. That’s why I keep picking up new skills—even bowhunting in my sixties.
At Valiant Outfitters, we live by what I call the 80/20 Rule of Survival:
* Survival is 80% mental,
* 20% gear,
* and the other 98.6% is doing the work and getting dirty.
My passion is to help people live better, fuller lives through time in nature. Whether you believe we evolved for it or were divinely created in it, the truth is the same: we’re made for the outdoors. No one ever said, “I’m going inside to calm down.” Nature heals, teaches, and toughens us. My mission is to help people thrive there—and in the wilderness of everyday life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
LOLing outloud! No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. It’s been a rough trail. But no trail worth hiking is ever smooth. The ones that matter are steep, muddy, and unpredictable. I’ve learned that a good life usually comes with muddy boots. Taking the road less travelled may make all the difference, but wonder and adventure are found on the trail you blaze for yourself.
Starting Valiant Outfitters in my late 50s was about as counter-cultural as it gets, especially an outdoor adventure company. Most people are thinking about slowing down at that stage. I was gearing up. And I couldn’t do it without the full support of my wife, kids, and friends.
People say day one is the hardest. I disagree. Day one is easy—it’s exciting. Day two is the hard one. That’s when the romance wears off and the routine sets in. After that, it’s all about discipline. It’s the same with life. Day one is usually easy for us. Our moms do all the hard stuff on our first day. It’s after that that it gets difficult. The good news is that life is like thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. It’s not complicated. You take a step, then another, and another, and keep repeating until you get from Georgia to Maine. Squeeze in some sleep and eating, and eventually, you finish with a fantastic sense of accomplishment. The hard part is showing up for each step. It’s simple, but not easy.
The biggest surprise for most people is how little time I actually spend outside. About ninety-five percent of my work is indoors—permits, logistics, finances, paperwork. Only five percent is spent in the field, and even then, it’s not about me. I’m there to make sure everyone else has a good experience.
That’s the payoff, watching people experience the wilderness for the first time. The “ohs” and “ahs.” Their first summit. Their first quiet moment around a campfire. That never gets old. But I usually plan an extra “detox”day on trail for myself after finishing a guided trip.
Being a sole proprietor means I am the brand, which is tough for an introvert, like me. I don’t like to promote myself, but it has to be done to promote the brand. And when you’re guiding multi-day trips, you’re always “on.” Most guests meet each other and the guide, then immediately step into a stressful, unfamiliar environment with strangers. Add fatigue and weather, and yes, there’s some complaining on the trail.
But here’s the thing: no one has ever said they regretted it, at least to my face. Some say they don’t need to do it again—but almost everyone is grateful they did it.
So let’s say that it’s 95% boredom/obstacles/challenges, 4% terror, and 1% elation, but that 1% overwhelms the other 99%.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
At our core, Valiant Outfitters is an outdoor adventure company that blends guided backpacking trips with real-world wilderness skills. We’re beginner-friendly but also offer advanced adventures that teach self-reliance, bushcraft, and survival fundamentals, not just how to hike a trail, but how to live comfortably outdoors, and survive when necessary.
We like to think that our emphasis on value and values sets us apart while we blend outdoor enjoyment with developing resilience and confidence, helping people thrive in both nature and real life. Our curated gear, training, and preparedness resources help people be confident and capable. We focus on education, small-group personal attention, and helping everyday people reconnect with nature in a meaningful, practical way for everyday life.
We also provide gear rental, purchasing guidance, and planning support for anyone who need help selecting or renting the right equipment before setting out on an adventure.
Finally, we’re very excited to be introducing The Valiant Wilderness Collective in 2026. We’re in the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt application process right now. The collective is a Christian, faith-based nonprofit dedicated to healing, growth, and empowerment through wilderness experiences. We use time in nature to help people rebuild confidence, resilience, and a sense of purpose.
Our focus is serving those who need it most—at-risk youth, survivors of domestic violence and trauma, military veterans and first responders, and individuals with physical, emotional, or cognitive challenges. Through guided outdoor experiences, we create safe, inclusive environments where people can heal, grow, and rediscover what they’re capable of.
To remove barriers, we provide scholarships, equipment, training, and guided adventures at little or no cost, and we work with community partners and supporters to make these opportunities accessible. The Collective’s mission is simple: restore hope, build resilience, and remind people they are not alone while in the wilderness.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I grew up free-range—some might say feral. My best memories are tied to getting dirt under by fingernails and smelling like campfire smoke. I spent my childhood roaming the woods, learning how to coax fire from flint and steel or a bow drill, hunting deer, rabbits, and pheasant, and eating berries straight off the bush when I was hungry.
The memory that sticks with me most comes from our family camping trips in northeast Pennsylvania. I’d wake up before anyone else, when the world was still quiet, shove a canoe off the bank, and paddle out onto a fog-covered lake. I’d catch a few smallmouth bass, bring them back to camp, clean them with my belt knife, roll them in flour, and cook them over a campfire for breakfast. The smell of woodsmoke, the hiss of hot grease, the lake just starting to wake up, that’s where the outdoors stopped being a place and became part of who I am, or maybe me a part of it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.valiantoutfitters.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/valiantoutfitters/
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/@valiantoutfitters
- Other: https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Joe-Bassett/237425940
