Texas River Floating Etiquette Explained

Are you gearing up for your first float trip and not sure what the rules are? This one’s for you.

I hate to admit it, but I’ve never floated any of the rivers here in the Lone Star State. So, I definitely gained some much-needed river floating knowledge from the river floating etiquette videos posted by TikTok user Not Travis.

Some of the tips offered in the videos are no-brainers like making sure to bring plenty of booze and water, but never, ever bring glass bottles. Otherwise, the cops will pull you right out of that river. And, of course, for those of us Caucasians, be sure to apply sunscreen on a regular basis.

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One thing I didn’t realize is that there are three key positions among a group of floaters: engineer, bartender and DJ. It makes sense that as long as there’s someone to steer the ship, another serving up the drinks and somebody blasting some tunes, it’s going to be a good float.

Of course, he offers plenty of tips on how to balance boozing it up with floating responsibly, because that’s pretty much the name of the game. I would imagine there are some folks out there that prefer to float sober, but I’ve never met them.

Hopefully these tips will come in handy if you’re a river floating newbie or maybe just in need of a refresher before heading out for your next float. I’ll certainly keep them in mind when it comes time to pop my river floating cherry.