Missing musher found alive, safe

CANTWELL — Alaska State Troopers confirmed Saturday that missing musher Melanie Gould had been found and was on her way to Palmer.

“I can verify that Melanie Gould contacted troopers in Cantwell and we are now transporting her to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center,” trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

Peters had nothing more to say on the topic.

“This is a quick note to let you know that Melanie Gould has been found and is safe. I have no details and was asked to email this message to my list,” Gould’s boss at the Talkeetna Roadhouse, Trish Costello, wrote to a list of people she’d been keeping updated via e-mail early Saturday afternoon.

The search for Gould occupied multiple days and hundreds of hours with searchers on the ground and in the air. More than a dozen rescue dogs turned out and ATV searchers logged hundreds of trail miles.

Gould’s friends put out the alert after she wasn’t seen following her last shift working at the roadhouse on May 31. The musher left her dogs behind with no plan for their care and did not take her cell phone along. Her pickup was later found on a trail in Denali National Park.

Troopers called off the official search Thursday.