How would you cross the river?

Here's a question from one of my BUS 195 assignments. Thought it was quite fun! Can you think of other ways to cross the river?

You are alone and are out hiking one day in a forest. Suddenly, you come to a wide river of molasses (what are molasses?) with a very slow, but strong current. Somehow, you must cross the river, but there is no bridge. Please describe the situation as you perceive it including assumptions and constraints.

Assumptions:

• The weather is sunny with no wind
• It is early afternoon
• The forest is quite dense but there is a small clearing where I am standing
• Natural materials available are branches, vines and fallen leaves
• There are a few birds flying overhead but no other wildlife visible (I wouldn't be hiking alone if there were any!)

According to the situation above, create as many possible solutions as you can to cross the river which are based on your constraints and perception of the situation.

Possible Solutions:

• Get some branches and use vines to tie the branches together to make a raft.
• Swim across (and pray there are no crocodiles hiding)
• Find several long vines, tie them to a sturdy tree branch and swing over to the other side like Tarzan! oooooooo eeeeeeeeeeee oooooooo eeeeeee ooooooooooo!!
• Make a pair of floating "shoes" (hollow semicircular objects like the ones Da Vinci used in Ever After) to "walk" across the river

And my favorite one..... *drum roll*

Find a HUGE bird, grab on to its legs and hope that it flies over the river!

Now how would YOU cross the river?