CANTON--Eighteen youth and adult leaders from Explorer Post 1846 of Our Lady of LaSalette Church spent a Saturday recently rafting down the Ocoee River, picnicking, attending a minor league ball game and planning future outings.

The group, open to young men and women 14 to 21 years old in the parish, entered the river at Ducktown, Tenn., for a two-hour guided trip where Olympic white-water events were held. Following the raft trip the group cooked out, played touch football and attended a Chattanooga Lookouts game.

The Explorer Post, a chartered high-adventure division of Boy Scouts of America, encourages members to lead and plan their youth program, which includes outdoor, career, community service, religious, educational and social activities. They meet twice monthly for religious education using materials prepared by the Catholic Committee on Scouting, including Scripture study and vocational preparation.

Future events include a hike on the Appalachian Trail in November and bike training for the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia in June 1998.

Our Lady of LaSalette chartered the post in April through the efforts of Explorer advisor Dave Richards, committee chairman Mandy Mills and the pastor, Father Neil Jones, MS. It derives its unit number from the year the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to two children in the alpine village of LaSalette, France.