Memory Gold Rush

Out of no where, the past can come rushing in and flood your mind with memories, stories, and a feeling of longing to go somewhere you haven't been for a long time.

Just the other day, I stumbled onto a website that had an article on fishing in Alaska. Deering, Alaska to be more precise. The author and his party traveled up the Inmachuk River fishing and sight seeing eventually passing Utica, an old gold mining community.

I was part of that community back in the early eighties specifically 1980 and 1981! I was 14 and 15 years old.

The article focused on the fishing and only mentioned Utica in about four sentences, but just the mention of the name Utica invoked memories so strong that it was hard to keep the smile from my face. The thought that the buildings, in which I once lived, are still there was enough to make me feel like it was just yesterday.

The author, Tyler Eddy of Eddystone Inn, and I exchanged emails and from his short note I was again transported to the Inmachuk River and the old dredges that sit like monuments to the past on it's banks. One of which I climbed to the top of the mast to peer into an eagle's nest and look upon two juvenile Golden Eagles.

An additional google search produced a picture of the camp and the buildings in which I learned skills I still use today, the buildings in which I ate and played cards into the late evenings, and the buildings I fueled and maintained.

The fish I caught, the moose I saw and the bears I eluded all came back to life and took center stage in my mind. Performing the scenes that had been locked away for some time now.

I would love to re-visit the Inmachuk River valley and to look upon Utica camp once more with my own eyes. It is commonly said that you can't relive the past, it can never live up to our memories. But how excited I am to know that the memories are all still so close with just a few words and a google image!