Berry-picker, 2 others rescued from wilds

MAT-SU -- The Alaska wilderness showed its harsh side to three people lost in the Valley this week, including a Wasilla woman who spent a cold and wet night at Hatcher Pass.

One man was plucked from beside the Susitna River by a military helicopter, and yet another man was rescued by helicopter near the Knik Glacier.

Mary Berg's adventure began at 6:30 p.m. Monday when she and husband Matthew drove to Mile 1.7 Archangel Road. She got out to pick blueberries while he stayed in the car. An hour later, Matthew Berg began searching for his wife but couldn't find the 37-year-old woman who Alaska State Troopers said was on her first berry picking trip in the area.

He drove to a pay phone and called troopers about 10:30 p.m. Troopers then alerted members of the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and the Alaska Search and Rescue Dogs organization. The rescuers left Anchorage at 4 a.m. Tuesday and started searching the Archangel Road vicinity three hours later.

Scott Horacek of Alaska Mountain Rescue Group and Cory Aist of Alaska Search and Rescue Dogs set out as a team, along with a female golden Labrador named Bean. A second two-person team searched elsewhere while others set up a command center at the trailhead.

Horacek and Aist walked a bluff overlooking a drainage for just under a mile until it intersected another drainage.

"We were hollering out her name," Horacek said. "When we got about 100 feet above the creek bed, she yelled back at us. We told her to keep shouting because she was in dense alders and willows."

They found Berg at 8:15 a.m., still huddled in the brush where she'd spent the night. Berg wore a cotton jacket, sweatshirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes.

"She was sopping wet and it was very cold," Horacek said. "She was happy to see us and said she could hear us calling, but with the noise from the creek it was hard to hear her."

Horacek said Berg got lost while picking berries, began walking in circles, and then hunkered down for the night.

Soren Orley of Alaska Mountain Rescue Group wasn't along for the search, but said Wednesday that conditions Berg faced were more conducive to hypothermia than in the winter, when people are likely to dress warmly.

"We love these kinds of rescues," Orley said, noting that Berg was in good health.

On Sunday, troopers received a report about 5:30 p.m. that someone on an all-terrain vehicle was waving a white flag near the Susitna River. Civil Air Patrol responded and spotted Gerald Milbrett, 42, of Palmer, on his ATV between Deshka Landing and Alexander Creek.

A helicopter crew from Kulis Air Guard was dispatched to pick up Milbrett, who is a paraplegic. While en route to Palmer Municipal Airport with Milbrett at 11:30 p.m. they received another report of a stranded person, and continued without landing as planned.

Charlene Figarelle told troopers her son Nicholas Figarelle, of Anchorage, was out of gas and lost on his ATV in the Jim Creek area. The helicopter crew located the 18-year-old near the Knik Glacier, and landed to get him.

Both Milbrett and Figarelle were in good condition when they arrived at Palmer Municipal Airport.

Milbrett said he also had run out of gas after driving his ATV 10 miles from friends at camp.

"I waved a white game bag," he said. "I would have made it through the night, but it was raining. I'd have been one wet Jose."

He said his rescue depended on information relayed from one of two float plane pilots who initially saw him and circled overhead. The pilot contacted troopers, who alerted the Civil Air Patrol and, in turn, the Kulis crew.

"I can't thank any of those people enough," Milbrett said.