Survive the Sound could be the title of the next big, hipster music festival. But luckily for all of us, it’s not. Seattle, WA-based non-profit Long Live the Kings has created Survive the Sound, an online game, as an educational tool to raise awareness for migrating steelhead in Puget Sound.
To participate, simply create a team with your friends, sponsor an existing team, or endorse an individual, digital “fish.” Then get ready for the oceanic version of Oregon Trail, where steelhead get sea lice instead of cholera. The migration begins May 7 and goes for 12 days. Players can track their fish online to see how far it swam (and to pray it didn’t get hacked by a Russian bot). Migration patterns are based on real steelhead smolt journeys from the Nisqually and Skokomish rivers tracked in 2017.
Prizes include a rod and reel package from Sage. All proceeds go to steelhead restoration and education efforts. Registration is open until May 6. Sign up at survivethesound.org
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.