Three American paddlers are safe after being rescued by the Canadian Forces in Yukon.

Shane Yarborough and two other paddlers from Skagway, Alaska, had been hiking and paddling a raft on the Wheaton River.

However, they appear to have confused the Watson and Wheaton rivers.

"We got turned around on the river so we found the highest area we could. We sat down and set up camp until everybody came to get us," said Yarborough.

Scott Smith is a helicopter pilot with Trans North Helicopters who says a search was called Monday.

"One fellow that worked in Skagway didn't show up for work on Monday. His boss was concerned and knew he was coming up here to float the Wheaton. The boss drove up here yesterday and found his vehicle parked at the wrong river," he said.

Private pilots and police searched the banks of the Watson and Wheaton rivers alongside Yukon Search-and-Rescue volunteers.

"We searched late into last night. As long as I was legally able to fly," Smith says.

It was coincidence that military helicopters were training nearby as part of Operation Nanook. Two Bell CH-146 Griffon helicopters took part in the search.

Tuesday morning the helicopters found the paddlers who had been waiting in place for 18 hours.

'We had a fire going'

Yarborough said the paddlers first tried to hike and find their bearings, after about six hours they set up camp with tents, sleeping bags and rain gear and decided to stay put.

"We were warm and dry the whole time," he said. "We had a fire going, we had a tarp set up as well as a tent."

After 18 hours, the group had run out of food.

Yarborough says he was glad to see the Griffon helicopters arrive and fly low over the camp.

"It was awesome. We were super-excited and getting ready to go. We knew we had been found," he said.

Helicopters testing cameras

Major Luc Vermette is a Flight Commander with the 408 Tactical Helicopter Squadron based in Edmonton.

He says the helicopters are testing new heat-sensing cameras designed to find people in places like forests where there's plenty of cover. The cameras weren't needed to find the paddlers.

Vermette credits the paddlers for packing tents and sleeping gear and climbing to higher ground in the hopes of a rescue.

"It was the best possible turn out," he said.

Smith says they should have been better prepared.

"No SPOT, Delorme, GPS, sat phone. In my opinion the were ill-prepared and lack of pre-planning is what put them in this situation," he said.