It was an eventful mail run in the North Cariboo this year to say the least.
Rick Raynor, the President of the Gold Rush Trail Sled Dog Association, says they did have one accident on the Friday.
“One of our mushers took a corner too close on Pinegrove Mountain and ended up getting into the soft snow off to the side of the trail. She flipped her sled which resulted in an injury for her.”
Raynor says her dogs then got away from her and proceeded down the trail.
“Once the sled stopped in the snow, the dogs of course are now sort of in one big ball and they started to have, end up with a bit of a discussion the dogs have, which doesn’t end well and one of the dogs was taken to the local veterinarian for some stitches.”
Raynor says one of the volunteers ended up needing some stitches as well after getting bit by one of the dogs while trying to break things up.
He says fortunately no one was seriously hurt.
“I went and saw her in the hospital on Friday before our banquet. I’ve been in touch with her over the weekend and most recently this (Monday) morning, and she’s at home and she’s doing great and recovering well.”
Raynor says he has spoken with the injured musher and the rest of the mushers as well on how they can improve that corner for next year.
“We have taken some steps to be able to look at seeing what we can do to make improvements. We make changes every single year, you know with issues we’ve had because of climate change and things along that line. In regards to this particular incident I’ve already got the feedback from the musher from an e-mail that I received from her early this morning with her suggestions on being able to make improvements to try and prevent an incident like this from happening.”
Raynor says the corner where the accident occurred is not unknown to the mushers though.
“They know it’s a difficult corner to make. It was just a moment of being too close and the soft snow, same as if you’re driving down the road in your vehicle and you get into that soft shoulder, it just sucks you right in, the same thing happens on a dog sled so we got some ideas from her on how we can be able to prevent this in the future.”
He says they always get feedback from the mushers.
“Any time you have an incident or any time you have a close call or anything along that line you know, certainly getting the input from the people that are on the trail is the most important for us, that is the best information. Mushers have far more insight in regards to the conditions and everything else than the rest of us as volunteers. We’re not the ones that are on the sleds and with the dogs, they provide us with the best feedback, and we have spoken to all the mushers in that regard as well.”
Raynor says despite the one incident, the 33rd annual event was very successful this year.
He says the 15 mushers delivered more than 15 hundred pieces of mail.
–Files by George Henderson, My Cariboo Now
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