Trailriders arrive safely, but late
The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office was notified Sept. 27 of three subjects that had not returned to Orofino from an evening motorcycle ride. The three left on Sept. 26 at approximately 2:30 in the afternoon with a pickup and three motorcycles and planned to go to either the French Mountain area or the Austin Ridge area.
The Clearwater County Search and rescue was called out and a search of the areas was conducted. The vehicle was located with no motorcycles near the Austin Ridge Lookout.
Idaho County Sheriff’s Office was advised of the situation and soon had Search and Rescue members out to assist.
At approximately 11 a.m. all three subjects rode out of the area, all in good health.
The three bikers, Ben Perkins, 47 of Orofino, Randy Wise, 36 of Moscow and Wise’s son Ryan, 11, had been riding trail #31 when they encountered extremely hard riding. When it got dark they decided that instead of the possibility of getting hurt, they would camp for the night and start a campfire to stay warm.
Assisting Clearwater and Idaho Counties with the search was the U.S. Forest Service, the Back Country Medics Helicopter out of Orofino and the Clearwater County Ambulance Service out of Weippe.