Open Roads | Inaugural Issue | Spring 2024

where nature and narrative meet spring 2024 — inaugural issue

where nature and narrative meet.

The mission of Open Roads is to create a diverse and inclusive community of nature enthusiasts who share a desire to unplug from everyday distractions, make authentic connections with others and learn to become aspirational authors of our own life story.

Our goal with this magazine is to use the lasting power of world-class still photography and reflective writing to help everyone from the seasoned traveler to those historically excluded from the outdoors celebrate and normalize the value of spending time in nature as the most fundamental way to enhance our collective mental and emotional health. We firmly believe this approach will also widen the circle of people who love — and will protect — our natural world.

Thanks to the generosity of our friends, family and a small group of foundations, we are proud to distribute this magazine at no charge to youth organizations around the country so that the next generation of young minds, particularly those who would not normally have a connection to nature, can write a new narrative.

Our human story began in nature, and this magazine aims to remind us of that, and to help all of us see our place in the natural world again.

“When I see it, I believe it.”

ESTABLISHED 2001 OPENROADS.ORG

contents

The Breath of the Barrel 6

Photo Essay by Nicol Ragland

Visit the open lands of Oklahoma and meet Vicky, a teenager with bold dreams of overcoming cystic fibrosis and becoming the first black, female barrel riding champion.

Her World Has Grown 22

Written by Stephanie Sanchez

Photos by Erica Mellon & Nikki Hausherr

Read the original work of Stephanie Sanchez, a talented young writer who discovers universal life lessons while floating along the mighty Salmon River with a group of fellow high school students experiencing river travel for the first time.

Soul River 40

Photo Essay by Chad Brown

Meet Chad Brown, the wildly talented photographer and creative visionary behind Soul River, Inc., a nonprofit organization that takes Veterans and youth to awe-inspiring destinations to connect them to their natural world.

We Were Told 58

Photo Essay by Natasha Joukowsky

Poem by Women of the River

Venture through the magical Gates of Lodore on Utah’s Green River with nostalgic film photography by Natasha Joukowsky and find inspiration in the original poem, “We Were Told,” co-written by a group of curious, visionary women river writers.

Capturing Light in the Land of Fire and Ice 78

Photo Essay by Quamae Hall

Travel with the intrepid Quamae the Creative as he searches for light across Iceland’s lush, open and jaw-dropping landscapes — scenes almost unimaginable to those at home.

TEditor’s Story

o say that we are excited about the launch of the inaugural Open Roads magazine would be an understatement for the ages. It was over twenty years ago that Open Roads was born from the inspiration of DoubleTake magazine, which gave us our first home. DoubleTake was dedicated to celebrating the extraordinary stories of everyday life through documentary photography and writing, seeking to dissolve our divides and reveal the depths of our common humanity. Driven by that ethos and adding our own mission to close the nature gap, we have now spent decades designing outdoor travel programs that combine reflective time in nature with an introduction to the story arts of film, photography and writing, effectively creating a space where nature and narrative meet.

What we learned over the years was that time spent in open spaces — listening to the stories of others — opened our minds and hearts, which then opened new roads to human connection and to a greater embrace of nature for all. Along the journey, we were also given shelter by Creative Visions Foundation in Malibu, California, whose family of creative activists helped us believe that art and story can, and do, change the world. With this as our soil, we dreamt that one day we would plant the seeds for a dazzling photography magazine that could unite and grow the Open Roads community and could play a small part in increasing a feeling of belonging in nature for all of us. Today is that day.

In this first issue, we will embark on a journey together, starting with an introduction to the resilience of an aspiring young barrel racer from Oklahoma who is already winning competitions against people nearly twice her age while aiming to set a few “firsts” along the way. Next, we flow down the Salmon River with a group of young adults — some of whom had never been in a body of natural water before — as they listen to the wisdom of the river so that all our worlds might grow. From there, we head to the Pacific Northwest to join world-class photographer Chad Brown as he unites inner-city youth with Veterans on deployments to experience the calm of fly fishing and the healing moments it offers for human connection, and for a commitment to conservation. Keeping with the river theme, we link arms with a group of female river writers as their words come together into a shared poem about the unshakable power of our voice. Finally, we will join the wildly talented Quamae the Creative as he brings the motivational lens of a Detroit-born photographer to the glorious, unexpected landscapes of Iceland.

Wherever you are when you pick up this issue of Open Roads magazine, we hope it encourages you to stop and take a deep breath, to set down your distractions, and to expand your field of vision. We hope it invites you to listen to the stories around you in a way that might ignite greater compassion and curiosity. We also hope it inspires you to seek out your own adventures in the outdoors and to rediscover your place in nature.

Editor and Creative Director

Trevor Hall

Publisher

Jaunt Media Collective

Director of Design

Sam Hartman

Design Consultant

Kitty Nicholason

Founding Editors

Pam Boll

Jenn Gross

Vicki Kennedy

Penny Rhodes

Pixie Mudge

John Heffernan

Jade Rhodes

Head of Programs & Partnerships

Roger Bristowe

Publisher Circle

Kathy Eldon

Amy Eldon-Turteltaub

Jon Turteltaub

Bill Rossi

Nick Rhodes

Jimmy Hunter

Grant Kirsh

Pattie Hauscherr

Marshall Whiting

Amy Paige

Artemis Joukowsky

Dr. Joanne Marien

Bonnie Strauss

Dan & Peggy Hoover

Deric Redmond

Jason Goldberg

Jeff Goldman

Jon Rubin

Nancy Rubin

Warner Paige & Judy Hall

Larry Hall & Flinn Dallis

Cara Casey

Cover Photograph

Courtesy of Nikki Hausherr

Open Roads Magazine

1223 Wilshire Boulevard, #351

Santa Monica, California 90403

To contact or for sponsorship opportunities, email: trevor@openroads.org

Phone number: 312-320-5909

Copyright ©2024 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission. Printed in Colorado.

Committed to environmental preservation, we use PrintReleaf to calculate paper usage and plant trees in certified forests globally.

The Breath of the Barrel

Photo Essay by

Nicol Ragland

THE BREATH OF THE BARREL is Nicol Ragland’s heartfelt photo essay, and soon-to-be short film, about Victoria Smith’s journey to overcome cystic fibrosis and become the first female, black barrel riding champion — shining a light on her ability to rise above a physical challenge through her relationship with a horse, and driven by the fire that burns within the rodeo circuit.

Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to run a cloverleaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. Though both sexes compete at amateur and youth levels, in collegiate and professional ranks, it is usually a rodeo event for women. Vicky’s rise is a timely intervention of social relevance, challenging the predominantly white, female barrel racing circuit with grit and grace.

Her World Has Grown

Written by Stephanie Sanchez

Photos by Erica Mellon & Nikki Hausherr

This original piece and the photos that accompany it were created on a weeklong trip down the main section of the Salmon River, organized for aspiring first-generation college students.

Her World Has Grown

At the beginning, the little girl stayed on land. She wasn’t scared of the ocean or water but she was just safe where she stood. She likes the comfort of having steady footing. If she were to go on the water, she would either possibly drown or she would have to use some means of transportation. The transportation she would use would not provide the same safety land does. She wouldn’t want to leave her comfort for something uncertain or even dangerous. One day a man she met while staring at the river proposed a challenge to her. He proposed that if she took a boat across the river, she would get more insight into the world and receive more knowledge. Now, this girl loved challenges and learning more than the average person. However, the fear of going into unexplored territory freaked her out. But, she was not just going to sit back and keep being spoiled by the comfort of land. She took this opportunity and jumped head-first into this brand-new experience. There is still yet an ending to her wonderful story but what we know right now is that she is having a wonderful experience, even though she is only knee-deep in the water.

In the end, the young girl was able to row across the river and make it back to the safety of her land. She was a little confused, though. The man had promised her knowledge, but she didn’t discover more math formulas or groundbreaking medicines. She began to reflect. Was she lied to? No, what she learned was not calculus or any formulas. But it was something more difficult to find. She found pieces of herself. She found how wonderful it was to step away from the land. She found how free it felt to take time to breathe the cool, fresh air that flows through the river. She found the feeling of just jumping into the water instead of always staying on the dry land. She met people who taught her how amazing the river is and how to take into perspective how beautiful every day is. She found new perspectives on life and how different they are from each other. She found a different way to live. Though the river didn’t necessarily whisper formulas and math symbols in her ears, she didn’t need any of that. She found a different type of knowledge. One that she wouldn’t change the world for. She was glad the man pushed this challenge onto her. She will now continue going into the river whenever she wants to. She’s not scared anymore, and her world has grown.

Soul River

Photography by Chad Brown

CHAD BROWN is a worldrenowned creative director, art director and photographer who has worked with leading design firms and agencies. More recently, Chad’s career and life path have led him beyond the traditional art world. Mother Nature has played a significant role in his healing from war traumas he experienced as a decorated U.S. Navy Veteran who served in Desert Storm/Shield Gulf War

and Operation Restore Hope, Somalia. His ensuing struggles with post traumatic stress disorder have led him to the launch of a non-profit organization unlike any other.

Soul River, Inc. uplifts and strengthens communities by connecting inner city youth and Veterans to the outdoors, creating powerful experiences that forge strong connections between youth and Veterans, their communities,

and the natural world. As you will see in the pages ahead, Soul River brings together inner city youth and Veterans as mentors, and then takes them into threatened wild spaces, providing mission-driven experiences where advocacy and outdoor education meet.

Chad has a unique ability to combine outdoor adventure travel and documenting threatened wild spaces, as well as connecting the public to

endangered areas by capturing and showing the true spirit of the people of these lands. He also produces intense, raw images of stylized dramatic documentary portraits by creatively using a bold approach, unique angles and dramatic lighting. He is deeply interested in capturing moments of passion and the human spirit, and it is an honor to have his work grace the pages of this magazine.

To learn more about Soul River and support their work, visit https://soulriverinc.org/.

To see more of Chad’s stunning photography, visit chadocreative.com.

We Were Told

Photo Essay by Natasha Joukowsky

Poem Written by the Women of the River

Iam a sucker for nostalgia — music, clothes, books and grainy old film photography. As I prepared for the river writers’ adventure, I was pulled into wonder thinking about the almost unimaginable age of the canyon walls we would see, the rocks sharpened and battered or smoothed into slick sheets of reflective time. There was nothing I could do to fully channel the spirit of that desert history, but I did feel that trying to slow myself down, just ever so slightly, with the pace of old-school film photography might ground me in a way that could open my perspective in a new way.

The goal of these images is to illustrate the love and sense of connection that was shared between the brilliant souls and fiercely talented writers who traveled together, and who collectively penned the poem that joins with these photos in the pages ahead.

— Natasha Joukowsky

T his collaborative poem and photo essay were created on an all-women River Writers trip through the Gates of Lodore Canyon on Utah's Green River.

We Were Told

We were told we are the grumbling gears manufacturing goods, feelings and sights. But I am as unimportant as a beetle to the rumbling rapids oozing life. Such a small, silly spectator, nothing compared to the river’s grand might.

We were told to apologize for the most minuscule inconveniences. But I am as unapologetic as the river, traveling and flowing along the space surrounding me. Confidently taking the path designed for me.

We were told to bite our tongue and learn to like the taste of blood, but the taste has gotten old, and I am sick of doing what I am told.

They told us to get over it, but I am the red-rocked base, the biological blueprint bestowed on me in the womb. My vulnerabilities are the everlasting trees that grow from my earliest memories.

They told us to be fearful of those who are different. But I am a reflection, taking on the colors of my surroundings. The green of other’s sensitivities, the copper of generational shame, the blue of humanity’s endless dreams.

We are the sedimentary sandstone made of jagged rocks and rubble, but when we melt together, we create towers to uplift each other.

We were taught to compare our beauty to the unfairness of the social stereotypes made to make us weak. But I am as beautiful as the sky, whose light is so bright it insists on illuminating us every hot day, and every cold night.

The sky looks different everywhere, but its beauty is always present. It is like us women, as beautiful as the sky, and as pure as the river.

We were told being vulnerable makes us fragile and weak, but it makes me strong and tall like the canyon walls.

Capturing Light in the Land of Fire & Ice

Photo Essay by Quamae Hall

Artist’s Statement

By Quame Hall

Over the course of my ten-day journey through Iceland, the themes of enchantment and transfiguration presented themselves to me. These themes saturated my mindset and allowed me to create a set of images that capture the wonderment and change that I myself went through on my migration around the island.

The land of fire and ice has my heart. Not only the people, but also the land, left such an impression on me that I cannot properly describe it in words. My hope is that these images give you insight into the intense experience I had in this place.

This trip put everything into perspective for me. Being able to have such a fairytale-like adventure is a far cry from the cracked concrete and abandoned ghettos of Detroit that I remember growing up around. I want to let anyone who comes from a similar situation know that those conditions do not dictate how much you can grow or where you can go in this world. I am the proof. Let this be your reminder that if you have a vision you’ll always have a path.

A THOUSAND SUMMERS

Scholarship Opportunities

A Thousand Summers (ATS) supports the development of youth across the United States through a variety of culturally responsive programs centered around a multi-year adventure summer camp experience. The ATS Campership Program provides scholarships to remove the barriers to highimpact summer camp experiences that are proven to advance youth toward a successful future.

Scan the QR code to learn how you can become a Summer Camp Scholarship Recipient and begin your journey of a thousand summers.

Support Our Work

Our mission is to change kids’ lives through transformative summer camp experiences. Individuals, companies, and brands that share our values can play a pivotal role in supporting the expansion and reach of our programs. By working together we can make a significant impact on the lives of the youth we serve, the communities to which they belong, and the future we will all share.

Scan the QR code to learn how YOU can help cultivate the next generation of leaders!

Visit AThousandSummers.org

TRAVEL THE OPEN ROADS

“This trip did miracles for my mental health. I came back motivated, much more than I had been in a really long time. It was as if being in nature and doing the unimaginable had cleansed my soul. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

YASMIN, OPEN ROADS PARTICIPANT

We pride ourselves on designing intentional outdoor adventures for schools, organizations companies and foundations that serve the aspirational outcomes of each group. These programs can be singular experiences or spread out over many months, but they are always geared toward harnessing the power of time in nature and our personal narrative, using three foundational life questions:

@openroadsoutdoors

Where do we come from? Who are we? Where are we going?

With the stories that come from pondering life’s biggest questions, we are ideally positioned to become creative authors of our own life story and to achieve our most treasured life outcomes with clarity, purpose, and joy. To explore how we can design a trip for your group, email: trevor@openroads.org.

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A Special Thanks To...

Blue Chip Foundation

William Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation

Boll Family Trust

Strauss Family Foundation

The Foundation for Systemic Change

Good for Kids Foundation

The Joukowsky Family Foundation

The Hunting Foundation

Squid and Squash Foundation

Nancy Rubin

Bonnie Strauss Gould

Ilene Resnick

Dr. Ray Sanchez

The Rhodes Family

Laurence Hall & Flinn Dallis

Nancy Olin

Natasha Joukowsky

Marshall Whiting

Michael Bedner

Torre Brannon | See a Man Be a Man

Jazmin Miranda

Wendy Jacobson & Bill Smee

Dr. Robert Coles

Asa Baber

Cara, Harper & Casey Hall … and Bear

The 350+ Alumni of Open Roads (and growing!)

JOIN US IN SUPPORTING THE OUTDOORS

FOR ALL ACT

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