TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON - When the weather was warm enough, Jane Charlie and her family would sail the Peel River right up to the front door of their cabin on its banks. Their home was just one of 40 or 50 other cabins and tents lining the mouth of the river, all with nets cast out to bring in heaps of fish they would later dry and feed to their dog teams.

More than 50 years later, Charlie will return to the heart of her childhood memories on the banks of the Peel, where only one man still lives.

"I already feel sad to go there," she said with a little laugh. "I left when I was about 20 years old, I think, and now I'm going back as an old woman."

Charlie, along with a group of other Gwich'in, is making the 2.5-hour drive from Fort McPherson today (July 20) to reunite at the place where they grew up.

Once there, they'll visit with elder Neil Colin, who still occupies his cabin there, next door to the one Charlie's family used to own. Charlie considers him a younger brother, and she said Colin promised his father he wouldn't desert the place.

"When he got there, he said - believe it or not - 'I sat on the bank where my dad sat; I sat there and I burst out crying,' he said. And that's the way it's going to be for every one of us."

The Peel River reunion has been in the works for years, said Nina Francis, event co-ordinator at the Tetlit Gwich'in Council. Elders suggested the week-long camping trip as a way to practice their traditions, to teach new generations about the history of the place, and to hear Colin's stories.

"While he's living they want the community members to come together and reunite in his honour and for him to tell historic stories of the Peel River," Francis said.

The Gwich'in Council has been fundraising to supply anyone who wants to take part in the trip with supplies such as fuel and groceries.

For the rest of the week, the campers will relive old times. They'll play baseball and hide-and-seek, set up their nets and snares, go berry picking and take boat rides once again.

Charlie is bringing two of her grandsons along to show them where she grew up. She wants to see how the place has changed from her memories - she's heard about the overgrown vegetation, disused houses and the receding shoreline.

"Now they say you have to walk a mile before you get to the house," she said.

"My dad's house is still there but the roof fell in. I'm going to put up a tent beside it and camp there by myself."