Snow Lily

--

Over the next few hours, I was busy either stoking the stove, cooking a big pot of stew that would last me a fair few number of meals, or shoveling snow from the entrance to the cabin. The way the snow was coming down and the wind was howling, I knew I wouldn't be getting much sleep at all tonight. I had to keep the stove going to combat the chill from the high winds. The snow was coming down at an alarming rate, so I needed to shovel almost every other hour to keep me from being trapped in. I was going to be very busy. But being busy is good, and I had the time. As long as I kept ahead of everything, then I'd be fine. I settled back with a bowl of stew.

By 11pm, the storm seemed to be reaching a new peak. The wind was howling and the snow was coming down harder than I had ever seen before. I needed to clear the area around the cabin door yet again, so I pulled my snow hood over my head and grabbed my shovel. For some reason I decided to put my camera on as well, might as well get some more footage, boring as it might be.

I was almost done with the snow removal when I heard it. It sounded like a domestic dog barking. It was rough to pick out amongst the howling of the wind through the trees, so I stopped my movements and listened for it again. I heard the barking once more. I'd spent enough time out here to know the types of indigenous animals and the sounds they typically made. A dog barking wouldn't be a sound that would alert you in most other cases, but for me, here in the woods, it could only really mean one thing. Humans.

A domestic dog would not be something that would be out this far alone. I guess it might be possible, but not very likely. If my hunch was correct, then there must be at least one if not more people nearby. I realized that if they were out in this storm, then they must be in distress. No one could last out in this weather for very long without shelter.

I needed to investigate. My survival training started to kick in. You can't just wander out in the storm unprepared. I grabbed my snowshoes, my mega torch and the first aid kit. My GPS was already hooked to my belt. I ventured back outside.

The snow was already well over a foot in most places, so I strapped on the snowshoes and started off in the direction I had heard the sound coming from. I tried to move as fast as I could, but it was a real slog moving through the new snow and against the howling wind. The snow was pelting my face as it was still coming down sideways. I stopped and listened to see if I could update my direction.

I heard the barking again. I shined the mega torch in the direction I thought it came from. After a few moments of searching with the light, I spotted the creature. It was at least 100 yards up the slope from me, but it was unmistakable. It was a full grown Alaskan Malamute. It continued to bark at me. I assumed it had seen my light.

I didn't see anyone else however, so I knew I needed to get closer. I began to trudge up the slope. It was slow going which made me more nervous, I wanted to hurry up and find out what was going on, as the conditions were deteriorating fast. I was still OK, but I knew the farther I went meant the farther and longer it would take to return. Nobody in their right mind should be out in this mess.

I kept the dog in the sights of my torch. As I would get closer, it began to lead me even further away, barking the entire time. It was unnerving. I started to weigh in my mind how much further I would chase this animal before giving up. Somehow, the dog's barking made me keep going, as if it was trying to tell me the urgency of the situation.

I saw the animal round the corner of an outcropping of rock. It was still barking incessantly. It took me at least another 10 minutes to get to the outcropping in this terrain, but it seemed that the barking was remaining in place. I was hoping I was at the end of this chase.

Once I came around the outcropping of rocks, I instantly found the dog lying next to a single person lying prone, partially covered in snow. I shouted, "Hello! Are you OK? Can you hear me?" but no response. I climbed to where the person was lying down and put my hand on their shoulder.

It was a young woman. She was soaking wet and shivering, covered in snow. Her lips were blue. The gear she was wearing was light and not enough to provide proper protection. I repeated my call, "are you OK?" Still no response. Kneeling down, I reached for the first aid kit. In my rush I had grabbed the new one I had just received. I prayed it contained an emergency blanket.

I opened up the kit. The emergency blanket was right on top, along with some hand warmers. I ripped open the package and began to try to wrap her in the blanket. As I began to help this woman, the Malamute walked up to me and began to lick my face. I gave it a quick pat on the head, just to reassure the dog, and went back to the task at hand. I shoved the hand warmers inside her gloves.

There was no way to know if she was injured in any way or just overcome by the elements. Normally you'd try to access any head injuries, but there was no way I was not going to move her into my shelter. I just needed to size up the situation. After I had her wrapped up, I grabbed my torch and searched around for any other victims. The only thing I found was a small backpack. 'Probably hers,' I thought. I threw it over my shoulder. I quickly wondered why in the hell she was out here all alone with her dog. That answer would have to come later. There were far more pressing things to attend to right now.

The real challenge now was to get her back to the shelter. The only way was to carry her, but this would be rough considering what the slog was like to even get to her. This was going to test all my weight and fitness training. I buttoned up my resolve and lifted the young woman into my arms.

She was completely unconscious, which made things even worse as I couldn't direct her to hold onto me. It was a struggle to balance her, but I was able to get a comfortable grip. I turned and started heading back to the shelter. The dog followed in my wake, barking as if to give me encouragement to continue.

It was really rough going. At least I was very familiar with this area as I had hiked it many times in the past. I recognized the tree lines and a few other landmarks. I knew I was on the right track back. The heavy snow was still piling up and it was even slower going. I fell to one knee at one point. She moaned as I jossled her, trying to readjust my grip and get back to my feet. My legs were burning from the strain. The Malamute kept up its encouragement. I could finally see the faint light coming from my cabin.

The entire odyssey had taken over 2 hours. I was getting more and more relieved as we got closer to the cabin. Finally I was at the front door. I opened it and all three of us fell into the shelter. I placed her shivering body onto one of the benches as I got up from my knees. My breathing was heavily labored and I was exhausted, but we had at least made it to shelter.

My job wasn't done by any means. I needed to get this poor woman stabilized. It was obvious she was struggling with hypothermia and I still didn't know if she was injured anywhere else. Her clothes were completely soaked and she was at best only semi-conscious.

I slammed more wood into the stove. Luckily I had just put in some wood before I had started out on my trek, so the cabin was still pretty warm. I noticed the pup had curled up in a corner, as if it was trying to recover on its own. I turned my attention back over to my rescuee.

I'd have to get her out of her wet clothes. I'd also have to make sure she wasn't injured anywhere else. We were going to be stuck here, maybe for multiple days before we could attempt to get back to civilization. I hoped that whatever I found I could deal with myself. Significant injuries could end up being mortal in these situations. I gathered up some of my warmest sleeping clothes that I could use to clothe her. She would probably be swimming in them, but there was no choice.

As I set out to remove her wet clothing, I found myself wishing she was at least conscious so that I could communicate what I was doing. I whispered, "I need to change your clothes," into her ear, just in case she could understand. There is a little trick when changing out of wet clothing in cold environs. You need to let a little bit of time pass between taking off the wet clothes and putting on the dry ones. This time lets the moisture on your body evaporate. Therefore your new clothes don't get immediately wet. You'll feel much warmer after you change.

I first removed her light jacket, then went to remove her sweatshirt. I was about to raise it over her head when she screamed incoherently and began to struggle. The dog jumped up and barked. She wasn't aware but she was fighting me. I tried to get her under control, but she was swinging her arms and caught me on the side of the head near my eye with her elbow. That hurt...a lot. I grabbed her in a bear hug as she continued to struggle. "Shhh, Shhh, It's Ok. It's OK. You're safe here," I tried to say convincingly. The struggling stopped and her head fell back. She was unconscious again. This unconscious state worried me. I felt that she must have something else wrong besides just hypothermia.

After getting her sweatshirt off I went to work on her feet. The left boot and sock were soaked but were easy to remove. It was when I got to the right boot that I had found the problem. The underside of the boot had a ragged tear. I removed it as gently as I could. I was shocked to see the sock underneath was completely soaked with blood. Here was my answer. She had obviously lost quite a bit of blood. It was unclear how much. I carefully removed the sock, it was stuck somewhat to her wound. It was nasty and deep. Probably from some sort of sharp rock near where I had found her. Back to the first aid kit I dove.

The ace bandage and gauze in the kit was sufficient to wrap her wound for now. I carefully cleaned her wound and used some iodine from the kit. I did the best wrapping job I could with the supplies that I had and finished the wrap with the ace bandage to keep it all in place. This should be enough to stabilize the wound, but I knew I didn't have the capability to cure her. She would need a hospital. My worry level went up about 4 notches.

Once I finished the wound care, I pulled off her hiking pants. She still needed to lay there for a couple of minutes, so I used the time to set out her clothing to dry. When I glanced back at her, she seemed to be sleeping more comfortably. Color was returning to her lips. I grabbed the clothes I had laid out for her and carefully redressed her. I won't lie, she was a shapely young woman and she looked pretty silly swimming around in my sweats and flannel. I slipped some soft wool socks over her feet and replaced the emergency blanket with one of my sleeping bags opened up and draped over her.

She moaned. The dog jumped up and barked once. The loudness of the bark made me jump. It ran over to her and sniffed her face, wagging its tail. The dog seemed satisfied and then turned back to me, looking up into my face.

"What?" as I looked down at the pup. She gave me a quick growl that ended in more of a whine. "I bet she's hungry" I mumbled to myself. "Well, I hope you like stew, 'cause that's what we got," I said to my new friend. I placed two bowls down on the floor, one with water and one with a portion of the stew. She emptied both in no time.

I went up to the beast and started to pet her. She seemed happy for the attention and started wagging her tail. "I wonder what your name is", I said to the furball. I found the collar and tag under that thick fur. "Nanook" was printed on the tag. "Nanook," I repeated. The dog's ears went straight to attention, she sat expectantly in front of me.

"Good Girl!" I said as I stroked her fur. After taking care of the emergency, I was coming to the realization that in all probability this dog had saved this young woman's life. Well, at least up to this point. We weren't out of the woods yet, both figuratively and literally. Just then I heard a big 'CRACK' outside along with the telltale sounds of a tree falling. It was the storm reminding me just how bad the situation really was.

At this point I heard the beeping from the camera I was wearing. I realized that I had filmed everything that had just happened. Jeez. I decided that I'd go ahead and just video journal from here on out. If someone found our bodies and the recordings, then at least they'll know what had happened to us. I popped in some fresh batteries and a new memory card.

"This is Bryan," I started. "It's"...I glanced at my watch... "Jesus, 3am on December 27th. I have a couple of house guests." I pointed the camera at the woman occupying my bed. "I don't know her name, but this little lady is pretty beat up," I went on to explain her injuries. "I believe she's stable at the moment, but she needs medical care that I can't provide. And this over here is Nanook." I pointed the camera down to the dog who, as if on cue, cocked her head and let out a little whine. "I believe Nanook belongs to this lady over here and in my book, this dog is a hero." I quickly recapped the events and shut off the camera. At this point I was trying to just make a video diary of everything. If nothing else, I could review the footage later at home with a clear head and evaluate my performance, if I was lucky enough to make it home.

I was dead tired, but I needed to get back out there and clear snow. I threw some more wood into the stove, grabbed the shovel and went back outside. Nanook let out another little whine.

There was a significant pile of snow, and I was quickly running out of places to put it. I did the best I could, but decided that I just needed to rest and I'll just have to work it all out tomorrow. I grabbed as much wood as I could carry from the lean-to and headed back inside. Both of my new housemates were fast asleep. I stripped out of my gear and got into some bedclothes. Thank goodness for making two sleeping benches in my cabin this time. The only issue was all the pads were under my new guest. I snuggled into a sleeping bag and tried to catch a few winks.

I got about two hours of sleep when I awoke with a start. It was still dark of course. Nanook was curled up in a ball, snoozing soundly. My other house guest was still asleep but was moaning. I needed to check on her. I got up and moved over next to her bed. I checked her temperature, feeling her head and hands. She seemed to be warmed up. I took it as a good sign. I shoved a couple of more logs into the stove. I added the current situation to the video diary and settled down to catch a few more winks.

--

About two hours later, I was awoken by a wet nose. As soon as I had fully opened my eyes, the tongue of this furry monster lapped across my face. "Ick!" I let out. I realized that Nanook needed to go out and do what dogs do. I got up and pulled on my gear. I could see daylight outside. Time to assess the damage.

I opened the door and Nanook bolted into the snow. If you know anything about Alaskan dogs, the snow is their natural habitat. Nanook rolled and romped through the thick snow. At one point she was almost buried to the tops of her pointy ears. She barked and dug her way out. These dogs just love this stuff. Nanook thoroughly enjoyed her romp.

I, on the other hand, was concerned. We did get about 2 and a half feet or so in this area. Could be more or less in other areas. If it was just me in the cabin, no big deal. I would just hunker down. But it wasn't just me. I needed to get this woman to a hospital soon. We couldn't get out right now, I was sure of that. We'd need to wait until we'd be sure the rural roads were plowed. We'd also need to figure out how mobile she would be. I realized she'd never be able to hike out, and I could never carry her that far in this snow. Well, one problem at a time. The next task at hand was breakfast.

Nanook finished her business and I called her back to the cabin. She came straight back to me. This dog was well trained. I opened the door and we rushed back in. Nanook began to shake. I instantly felt like I was inside a snow globe. I'd have to remember to wipe her down next time. I stoked up the stove to make breakfast.

Eggs, sausage and coffee were on the menu. I set to making enough for 3, since I was hoping I could wake my guest. Nanook was already licking her lips. I cut up the eggs and sausage in Nanook's bowl and set it aside to let it cool for a while. I had gotten about half way through my plate when I reached over to get a second cup of coffee. I think it was the smell of the coffee that finally woke her up.

When I turned around from the stove, I saw that her eyes were open, but she was obviously disoriented. I came over to her. "Are you awake? Can you speak?" I asked.

"Where am I?" she replied.

I knew to be succinct and comforting with my words. "You're at my cabin. You're safe right now."

"Where...where's my dog!?" she stammered worryingly as she tried to sit up.

I quickly put my hand on her arm to slow her assent. "Nanook's right here." The dog jumped up and began licking her face. She threw her arms around her dog and hugged her tight.

"You're safe now, but you are injured. You need to lay quietly. We also need to get some food and drink into you," I counseled.

"How do you know my dog's name?" she asked with some confusion.

"The tag," I replied. 'I know your dog's name, but I don't know yours."

"My name is Lily," she responded in between dog licks.

"Well, Lily, I'm pleased to meet you," I said. "My name is Bryan, and although you are welcome to share his cabin with me, I wish it was under better circumstances."

Lily began to shift as if she was going to sit up, but then immediately felt the pain in her foot. "Ouch, my foot," she said grimacing.

"Be careful!" I said sternly. "You have a nasty gash on your foot. I've wrapped it the best I can for now. We will probably need to change the dressing later today. Do you feel pain anywhere else?"

"No...I don't think so," she said.

"Good. Here, have some coffee. We need to get something warm into you. You were suffering from hypothermia when I found you."

Lily took the cup from my hands and took a long slow sip. "Oh that's good," she said as she drank it in.

I looked at her and smiled. She still looked a little silly wearing my clothes. "Sorry about the sleepwear," I chuckled. "I didn't plan on any guests."

She looked down at what she was wearing. "How...how did I get into these?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," I started. "But I had to get you out of your soaked gear and into something warm and dry. You were hypothermic and your lips were blue. I took off your clothes and redressed you in these. You were totally out of it, but your life depended on it."

"Oh...OK...I understand," she was a little concerned.

"If it makes you feel any better, you still put up a fight. I've got the shiner to prove it," I said as I showed her my bruised eye.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I can't believe I hurt you," she said apologetically.

"No worries. This is the least of our concerns right now. Here, have a little to eat," I said as I handed her a plate of sausage and eggs. She lifted the fork to her lips. I set the bowl down for Nanook. She seemed to gobble it up in just a couple of bites.

"That's quite the brave pup you have there," I told her. "It's a long story, but it's because of her that we are even talking to each other right now." Nanook bounced over toward me. I started scratching her head and she leaned into me.

"Thanks," said Lily. "She's my best friend. We've been through a lot together. She always seems to have my back. Looks as if she really likes you. She's not like that with most people."