Julian Monroe Fisher has been exploring the United States and the globe for much of his adult life. A fellow with The Royal Geographical Society in London and The Explorers Club in New York City and a member of The American Anthropological Association, he has summited Mount Kilamonjaro, trekked from Mexico to South America, and walked from one coast of Africa to the other.
But now Fisher, a native South Carolinian, is turning his wandering eye to the region where he grew up. With his ‘Carolina Rivers – Education and Preservation through Exploration’ initiative, he has set out to paddle the length of 32 Carolina rivers in a matter of two years.
When I caught up with Fisher he was enjoying a hard earned beer at Highland Brewing Company in Asheville, North Carolina after paddling 80 miles from the headwaters of the French Broad River.
“The purpose of this project is to let people know that they don’t have travel to to far off exotic places like Africa in order to be an explorer,” Fisher told me. “All you really have to do is turn a curious eye to your immediate surroundings. I can’t imagine a better place to do that than on a Carolina river.”
Fisher will continue on with his journey, paddling such rivers as the New, the Chatooga, the Kiawah, and the Yadkin, well into the summer of 2016. You can learn more about his project at www.carolinarivers.com and stay tuned to BlueRidgeOutdoors.com for regular updates on his progress.
