Floating through a rushing river requires concentration and quick decision-making. It also helps to know a little geometry.
Scouts with Troop 411 of Minot, North Dakota, learned that approaching rocks at a 45-degree angle in their inflatable rafts would lessen the chances of capsizing in the frigid water.
“You have to paddle to dodge the rocks,” Life Scout Nate Lewis, 16, says. “It wouldn’t be fun if you flip.”
For the most part, the Scouts stayed upright as they trekked and paddled 60 miles along Montana’s Flathead River during a weeklong packrafting trek last summer.
