Memories of Happy Camp

Editor,

It sometimes seems like a dream but it really happened! I had the most incredible place on earth to go through my youth, the beautiful mountains and clear creeks of Happy Camp. It has been 22 years since my parents dragged me kicking and screaming away from my childhood friends. I was 15 then. Idaho is nice but it was no replacement for what Happy Camp had to offer a boy in his youth.

When the movie “A River Runs Through it” came out I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own childhood. Thanks to my many friends, Eric Hokanson, Rusty Crocker, Tony Titus, Mouse (Wayne) Card, Lance Works, Ronnie White, Richie Bridenstein and many more, I have some of the most incredible memories. Anyone that can go a few yards from their home and have mountain creek swimming, a mountain for a play ground, and unlimited fishing holes knows how difficult it must have been to leave it all behind!

Every memory of growing up in Happy Camp brings a smile to my face. Everything from Kathy Burr giving me a bloody nose in 4th grade to teasing the bears with Eric Hokanson at the landfill. Nothing can replace the memory of playing flag football in the Crockers yard or floating tubes from our home on Indian creek to the Hokanson’s A frame. Few experiences in life have matched exploring the mountains or panning for gold on the banks of the Klamath. Where else can you be picking black berries and discover that a black bear is picking just on the other side of the bush! I have seen many logging trucks since I moved but never one that had a one log load! I have come to learn that there is nothing like a small home town football game. And Big Foot days, how could you replace that!

Thanks to the incredible aspects of Happy Camp and the wonderful people that I grew up with my childhood was like a dream. I often wonder about my old classmates and reminisce of old times. Too many times we allow life to run us over and we fail to do the really important things. Therefore, I thank you for the opportunity to avoid that mistake by expressing my sincere appreciation and love for my hometown and it’s good people.

My beautiful wife, 5 daughters and I will return to visit one day. Until then, may God bless you and find you all happy and well. Don’t take for granted what many people will never have the privilege of experiencing.

Mike Landrum
Layton, Utah