Our Story

Eastern River Expeditions is owned and operated by husband and wife team Mike and Cassidy Lord. Mike and Cassidy met on the river and it was their shared love of the outdoors and paddling that initially brought them together. During their years together, they have paddled innumerable rivers around the US and abroad. They are avid whitewater kayakers, rafters and flat-water boaters. They particularly love multi-day river trips on the often empty rivers of the Southeastern US. Surprised by the lack of other boaters engaging in multi-day river trips, they developed Eastern River Expeditions as a way to facilitate river adventures for those paddlers who might be hesitant to head out into the wilds on their own. 

Cassidy grew up along the banks of the North Fork of the Gunnison River in the small town of Paonia, Colorado. Her first whitewater experience was with Adventure Bound River Expeditions (AB), where, at 17, she began working as a yard-hand, cleaning coolers and emptying groovers. As soon as she turned 18, she applied for guide status in the state of Utah where she received her captain’s license. After 2 years at AB the siren song of Hawaii lured her away from Colorado. While in Hawaii, she continued to pursue her love of all things boating by working as a sea kayak guide, a snorkeling guide and a deep sea fishing guide. Before returning to Colorado, and another few years with Adventure Bound where she would meet fellow guide, Mike. Cassidy worked in Southeast Alaska as an adventure guide and massage therapist where she was able to lead trips sea kayaking, salmon fishing and cave exploring. 

Mike grew up along the banks of the Yellow River in Stone Mountain, GA. Mike’s family has always loved boats and fishing and he has enjoyed paddling the flat water rivers and lakes of Georgia since he was a small child. Luckily, some of the best whitewater on the Yellow River was in Mike’s childhood backyard. He and his Dad taught themselves to whitewater kayak on those backyard rapids when Mike was just 15 years old. He immediately fell in love with all things kayak related and has never looked back. As a youngster, his family travelled out west for a few multi-day whitewater trips with Adventure Bound. These experiences left a big impression. After nearly a decade of post-college travels, during which time he lived in Australia for a few years, visited over 40 countries and all 50 states, Mike pursued a long felt desire to work as a river guide for Adventure Bound. Not knowing a soul in Grand Junction, Colorado, AB’s hometown, he interviewed over the phone and got the job of a lifetime. Before he knew it, he had quit his zookeeper job in San Francisco and was headed to Colorado.

Mike and Cassidy met while both were working for Adventure Bound. They each worked four seasons with AB and eventually both reached Trip Leader status. AB operates in extremely remote locations on the Colorado, Green and Yampa rivers. They run some of the largest white water in the country. 

Both Mike and Cassidy have experience guiding river expeditions, up to a week long, thru Class V whitewater. They honed their guide skills while at AB and learned what it takes to run a successful multi-day commercial river trip. It is this style of western multi-day river expeditions that they now bring to the east. 

Eventually Mike and Cassidy moved to Georgia in order to pursue their educations at UGA. Mike received a Masters of International Policy and Cassidy earned a degree in Environmental Health Science. And she is currently working on a Masters degree in Forestry and Natural Resources. In their spare time they love to travel the world and they, of course, can’t keep off the water, frequently exploring the rivers of their home state of Georgia. The solitude and wilderness they found on these little used rivers amazed them. They seemed to have it all to themselves. They now want to share what they found with other paddlers and hope you’ll join them on the river for an unforgettable adventure.