through writing, photography, and grants, we hope to establish a presence for exploring the remaining "wilderness" and how our understanding of it evolves.

wilderness is often considered "unpublishable" by many outlets, or publication remains confined to well-known contributors; natural soul offers a unique opportunity for both established and emerging artists and writers to get their work out there and for them to also play a role in aiding the areas their messages explore.

we need to protect these regions and ideals. to this end, natural soul provides micro-grants to individuals and organizations with a specific project or trip that explores or protects wilderness. submitting writers and photographers will help fund these grants. a suggsted donation of $2 -$5 will come from contributors. these funds will be pooled to provide grants. we cannot provide a great deal at first, but in a grassroots effort, every bit helps. with the continued success of the journal, we hope to eventually provide larger grants.

The trip is now locked and loaded.  Just had a great conversation with my friend John Carlin – wish we were leaving tomorrow.  Based on earlier feedback we have decided on the 6-day trip starting July 6.  According to John, this is traditionally the best week of the year, averaging between 700 and 1000 Kings for the week.  Split between 22-24 anglers in the camp, that is a lot of salmon.  In all there are 7 species of fish that you can chase – plus lots of caribou, moose, bear etc.  We are going to be way out in the bush so we’ll probably not see anyone besides those in our camp for the 6 days.  The basic setup is 2 anglers per guide, option to bait cast, spin cast, or fly-fish, using drift boats and jet boats.  If you want to email or speak to John personally to get any additional info let me know.
 

The reason that we need to lock it down is that there is another group (employees/affiliates of Gander Mountain which is like a Midwestern REI that sponsor the camp and shot an installment of We Live Outdoors that will air this Fall or winter on the OLN network) that is planning to come that same week, and they are trying to bring a big crew.  So we basically need to be pretty firm now to carve out enough spots for our group.  If we need to expand our group size from 8-10 I can do so, but I need to do it quickly.  John recommends even numbered groups because they run 2anglers/guide, but they can accommodate odd if we need to.  So please send me an email confirming your status, and the maybes please try to decide in the next week or so.

 To recap the costs:

All inclusive camp fee                            $3500

Flight from Anchorage to camp              $600

Misc licenses etc                                   $70

Plus you need to get yourself to and from Anchorage. (The flight in from Anchorage is a 2 hopper – a jet hop over the Alaskan range and then float planes into camp.  You are on the water fishing by noon).

Pete Raymond: oh yeah:

Pete Raymond: i cant remember who did it

Pete Raymond: but either jj or alec got one vote in the tile contest

Pete Raymond: the tile was all green

Pete Raymond: but i guess the judge thought he saw two towers and smoke swirled in it

Steve Raymond: alec

Pete Raymond: pretty funny

Steve Raymond: how many judges?

Pete Raymond: not sure

Keep in mind that Alec was born 2 years after 9/11 - he is not yet 3.  Just last night Jen and I were looking at the above photo and commenting how JJs tile was the better one because he was using all of the colors, while Alec stuck to one hue.  What do we know.