Husky News

A dog team-snowmachine collision at a trail intersection near the Little Susitna River left two dogs injured, a 15-year-old musher shaken, the machine damaged, a good Samaritan rewarded and everyone involved calling for more awareness on local trails as winter activity ramps up.

Knik resident Meredith Mapes, who competed last year in the Junior Iditarod, was mushing Sunday afternoon in Day Two of the Aurora 50/50 race.

Mapes and her team of eight dogs were on the race route where it veers just off the historic Iditarod Trail, which runs from Knik to the Susitna River. Snowmachiner Dean Cherrier of Anchorage was running down an intersecting trail that links the state-owned Little Susitna Public Use Facility, about 34 miles south of Wasilla, to the Iditarod and other area trails.

Mapes said she heard a snowmachine approaching and slowed but couldn’t stop. Cherrier said he didn’t have time to swerve or even slow down when he saw Mapes. Trees and a small hill obscure the view of the intersection.

“The timing was something that would have never happened again in a million years,” Cherrier said.

Cherrier’s machine drove into the middle of the dog team and tangled in the cable gangline. The impact broke four of the dogs’ leads and they got loose. One lead dog, Porkchop, was apparently pulled backward into the path of the machine and ended up with four fractured metatarsals on his right hind foot and cuts on his left hind leg. Another dog, Captain, bruised his eye.

Parts of Cherrier’s snowmachine cowling and his windshield were ripped off when he slid through the gangline.

Neither Mapes nor Cherrier was hurt.

Musher Erin Redington was in third place in the race, but she scratched to help tow Mapes and her sled back to the Aurora Clubhouse near Big Lake. Another competitor, Ray Redington, also stopped. He loaded the injured dog, Porkchop, in his sled and continued racing back to the clubhouse. Three of the four loose dogs were rounded up and also carried back. One, Logo, eluded efforts to catch her and spent the night on the trail.

Other mushers, like winner Cim Smyth, had tried to stop but couldn’t keep their teams still. Smyth and his team won the race but he split his $500 in winnings with Erin Redington as a thank-you for helping Mapes.

Back at the clubhouse, Meredith’s mom was anxiously waiting. Amid the chaos at the intersection, Meredith had taken time for a quick cell phone call.

“I tried to call her and say ‘Mom, my team got hit by a snowmachine.’ She heard ‘Mom, hit, snowmachine,’ ” Meredith said.

Fortunately, her daughter’s calm tone on the phone indicated the situation wasn’t dire, said Marilyn Mapes, the mom.

Alaska State Troopers were called, but no charges were pressed. Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said unless a human is injured, the snowmachiner drinking or the incident was a deliberate attack, troopers generally don’t get involved.

Aurora organizers say they plan to put up more and bigger signs at trailheads and intersections in hopes of preventing another run-in. It’s unclear whether signs were visible at this intersection on race day.

Marilyn Mapes said all trail users should be on the watch for others, especially at busy intersections.

“A lot of races use the same trail that this race was on. There are other races coming up. And there are a lot of us that train out on those trails,” she said.

Back at home Monday night, Meredith Mapes was on the floor with a groggy Porkchop, who had returned from the vet after treatment. A few hours before, her father, John Mapes, had picked up Logo on the Iditarod Trail.

After a night spent on the trail, the elusive dog proved unable to resist the lure of a stick of moose meat that John Mapes offered.

Source: The Anchorage Daily News