The helicopter landed, and the pilot did not see Gould, said troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen. There were no immediate signs of foul play, but troopers were still searching late Saturday, said Ipsen, who was not sure where along the highway the truck was found.
Gould was last seen at the Tangle River Inn on the remote highway getting food Tuesday, friends of the Iditarod veteran said. She didn't show up for work at the Talkeetna Roadhouse that night, and missed work again Wednesday at a bakery.
But what worried Gould's friends the most was that she left behind her team of about a dozen sled dogs, without making arrangements for their care. She also left her favorite canine companion, a sled dog named Jane, said Gould's friend Amanda Randles.
Troopers told Randles -- who with another friend, Amanda Olson, acted as an information hub for the search -- that it appeared whoever was in the truck had simply walked away from it.
The truck did not appear to be damaged, and there was no reason to think Gould had come to harm, Ipsen said.
"The next thing is finding her, really. It's a big clue when we find her truck, but so far we haven't found any other clues about what happened to her," Ipsen said. "As far as we can tell, there is nothing suspicious."
At least three private planes and a helicopter were in the air looking for Gould on Friday, and people searching by foot and by car started in Talkeetna and spread out along the Parks Highway heading north and south, Randles said.
In the meantime, a Facebook group titled "Have You Seen Melanie Gould?" reached 845 members by Saturday evening and by then hundreds of fliers with Gould's picture had been put up at locations around the state.
"We plastered the world with these signs," Randles said.
Gould is 5 feet, 9 inches tall, has blond hair and blue eyes, and weighs about 145 pounds. Friends ask that anyone with information about Gould's whereabouts to call Talkeetna troopers at 907-733-2256.
Reach Casey Grove at casey.grove@adn.com or 257-4589.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.