Amelia Milling is a 21-year-old girl and she really doesn’t have much fear to speak of. Perhaps when you were 21 years old you may have felt very similar. On this particular day, she had gone out for a hike through Crow Pass Trail in Chugach State Park. It is a very remote area but it is also one that is absolutely beautiful. You can find it about 30 miles outside of Anchorage, Alaska. If you have never been to the area, you really owe it to yourself to put it on your bucket list.
Although it would seem that nothing could possibly go wrong on this beautiful day, you really never know when something bad can happen. Amelia is deaf and she was doing exactly what she loves to do, hiking out in nature. At this point, it was a relaxing hike on the trail but it didn’t take long before something happened that would change things very quickly. She was approximately 4 miles into the hike when it took place.
Amelia was using trekking poles but one of them snapped and she lost her balance. As she fell down, she went down a snowy portion of the mountain approximately 300 feet. She then hit a large boulder and continued sliding down the mountain another 400 feet.
Amelia could tell she may have been injured and she sat there for a while to assess her condition. It was then that she saw what she thought was a large, white wolf. She was in full panic mode but as it made its way closer, she saw it had a collar around its neck.
She instantly knew it was a husky that had come to rescue her.
The tag on the dog’s collar revealed his name, Nanook. They started back toward the trail but didn’t quite make it, so they had to stay overnight. As the night carried on, the dog never left her side. She eventually found out that he is a Trail guide dog.
It was approximately 24 hours after Amelia fell that she tried to cross a river. The current began to drag her under and she was very frightened. Fortunately, Nanook stuck by her side.
He grabbed the strap of her backpack to pull her up and lift her from danger. She was able to get herself out of the current and back to land again. At that point, she retrieved her SPOT beacon. It is a GPS device that lets rescuers know her location. The Alaska State Troopers were on the way.
Amelia is thankful that the state troopers were able to save her but she is also very thankful for her personal hero, Nanook. If it wouldn’t have been for the dog, she may never have made it back to safety again.
Nanook’s owners were told about the dog’s location and they were surprised that he had wandered so far into the wilderness. It seems as if Nanook had saved a life before. He once saved a little girl who was in the river.
You can watch the video below to hear more of this touching story:
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