Missing ATV riders turn up safe, healthy

Kootenai County authorities began searching Friday morning for three ATV riders reported missing in the Canfield Mountain/Fernan Saddle area. But the three men, all from Coeur d’Alene, soon turned up safe.

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department learned about 11:10 a.m. that the missing men had just left the County Lane Resort on the North Fork of the Coeur d’Alene River and were on their way back to their vehicle at the Canfield trailhead.

Delbert Napier, 71, his son Dean Napier, 41, and Aaron Howard, 45, were in good health and, after eating breakfast, were headed home, the Sheriff’s Department said.

The men left their vehicle at the Canfield Mountain trailhead around 3 p.m. Thursday, according to Capt. Ben Wolfinger. The men went riding on their ATVs and didn’t return by dark as expected, Wolfinger said.