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Greetings
Welcome to the Blue Wall Weekly, your source for what's going on outside along the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment. Feel free to share your own photos, videos, and adventures along the Blue Wall, and we'll do our best to make you (locally) famous!
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SHIFTING SANDS
The gentlest of rains eventually wears smooth the sharpest of rock. Stone becomes sand. Sand is carried to sea by rain. Along the way the pace of water slacks and sand settles. A weather phenomenon gifts the earth with hours of steady rainfall and tons of sand – miniscule bits of feldspar, quartz, and mica – shift in the torrent. Under waterfalls, pools deepen; downstream new sandbars form. Our beautiful lake, Jocassee, changes constantly. Lovers of nature rejoice. Boaters, beware.~K
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Leaving Wright Creek Falls.
Photo by Dale Sorensen
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
JOCASSEE GORGES DRIVING TOUR & SUNSET PICNIC AT JUMPING OFF ROCK
OCTOBER 26: 4:00 - 8:30 PM
FULL MOON RISING TOUR - BEAVER MOON!
JOCASSEE HISTORY TOUR - CHEROKEE HISTORY W/ DR. DAVE LAVERE
November 16: 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM Book Now!
PLEASE CALL 864-280-5501 TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS!
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WEEKLY EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
EVERY WEDNESDAY TOUR
October 18: 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Book Now!
EVERY SATURDAY TOUR
October 21: 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM Book Now!
SATURDAY SUNSET TOUR
EVERY SUNDAY TOUR
PRIVATE TOURS ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE!
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THIS WEEK!
OCTOBER 16
STATE PARK EVENTS
Gorges State Park
October 21: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Photo by Tricia Kyzer
Enjoy the colors of the changing season with a relaxing hayride around the park, then enjoy live music outside and in front of the visitor center fireplace. There will be local vendors, live music, and wildlife education programs throughout the day!
MEETUP EVENTS: WHAT IS A MEETUP?
Tri-County Adventure Group
October 20: 7:00 PM
Pee Dee Adventures
October 20 - 23: 5:00 PM
Join us for a three day, two night backpacking trip on the Foothills Trail around the upper fingers of Lake Jocassee.
Foothills Group of the Sierra Club
October 21: 10:00 AM
From the trailhead located within Oconee State Park this out and back trail provides you with scenery that is well worth the effort. Mountain laurel and rhododendron engulf the edges of the trail, along with wild strawberries, Solomon's seal, beggar lice, and a variety of asters.
Tri-County Adventure Group
Hidden Falls
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
October 16: 6:30 - 9:00 PM
Non-native invasive plant species can threaten and alter both natural and cultural resources. Key to protecting these resources are recognizing invasive species’ potential for spread and finding new introductions.
Mushroom Mountain
October 18: 2:00 - 3:30 PM
All tours of Mushroom Mountain include an introduction to fungal ecology and life cycles, laboratory tour and research overviews, and the fruiting room. Many aspects of mushrooms, including medicinal properties, cooking, and mycoremediation to soil creation will be discussed along the way!
Friends of Jocassee
October 19: 10:00 AM
Guest Speaker: Laura A. Blake-Orr, Wildlife Habitat Program Manager South Carolina Wildlife Federation. Tour of Bad Creek Hydro Station with Allan Boggs of Duke Energy.
SC Botanical Garden
October 19: 4:30 - 5:30 PM
From the mountains to the sea, participants will learn about the animals and plants who call this State home, and the landscapes that define South Carolina.
Greenville County Bird Club
October 21: 8:00 - 10:30 / 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Foothills Trail Conference
October 21: 9:00 AM
Photo by Darrell Snow
This drive will take you to the best view of Lake Jocassee and the Jocassee Gorges area! Some fall color will also be present. Meet at Holly Springs Country Store at 9:00 a.m. to set up shuttle.
SC Botanical Garden
October 21: 9:00 - 11:00 AM
Join us each month as we explore a different area of the 17,500-acre Clemson Experimental Forest (CEF). These fun and informal walks will expose you to a diversity of natural and cultural resources in the CEF.
Hagood Mill
October 21: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Featuring some of the nation’s best old time story tellers sharing buits about all sorts of folks, funnies, cultures, and places.
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COMING SOON!
OCTOBER
STATE PARK EVENTS
Table Rock State Park
October 28: 1:00 - 3:00 PM
Table Rock State Park
October 28: 5:00 - 6:00
Oconee State Park
October 28: 5:00 - 7:00 PM
MEETUP EVENTS: WHAT IS A MEETUP?
Tri-County Adventure Group
GNHA
October 29: 10:00 AM
GNHA
November 4: 10:00 AM
Upstate Hiking and Outdoor Adventures
November 10: 3:00 PM
Novemnber 12: 12:00 PM
Upstate Hiking and Outdoor Adventures
November 11: 12:00 PM
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
SC Botanical Garden
October 26: 4:30 - 5:30 PM
In this new program, participants learn how
to grow and then preparefood to eat in the
Food For Thought Garden. In the fall session,
kids enjoy the summer bounty of the garden
by harvesting andpreparing summevegetables
in simple, delicious recipes.
SC Native Plant Society
October 27: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Jocassee Lake Tours
October 28: 4:00 - 8:30 PM
November 2: 4:00 - 8:30 PM
SC Botanical Gardens
SC Native Plant Society
November 1: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
SC Botanical Garden
November 3: 3:30 -5:30 PM
SC Botanical Gardens
SC Native Plant Society
November 4: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Lake Conestee Nature Park
November 5: 9:30 - 11:30 AM
THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
OCTOBER 16, 2017
WONDER COMING. There are periods of pure wonder on Lake Jocassee, amidst the most wonder-filled place I have ever lived. The next few weeks is such a period. By mid-August, the forest is a solid, ubiquitous dark green, the color of nature at the deepest part of summer, then the slow progression to fall begins. At this point, mid-October, this diversified forest in which we live and work is getting ready to take one’s breath away. You can sense it coming around the bend on the Thompson River. You know the one, the one that make you feel like you’re entering Jurassic Park. At that bend, if the light is just right, every tree is just a little different in color than the one next to it. To the attentive eye, to the subtle observer, it is a palate of soft colors, not brilliant just yet, but oh so lovely and delicate. The explosion of fall is upon us, and yet it begins so quietly.
COLOR REPORT. Well, it’s everywhere, but look specifically at the sourwood trees, the yellow and green dotted poplars, and the red dappled black gums. The maples are started to turn, and the sweet gums too, and the sumac. I could go on and on.
LOON REPORT. Waiting, anxiously.
EAGLE REPORT. We’ve been spotting them every day this week, and it’s not even time for the fall migration of eagles to our shore yet! It should be a good eagle winter.
SWIMMER’S REPORT. Oh yeah, it’s still just right. Our days are numbered, though, for you die hard swimmers out there.
BORROWED GLIMPSES
A pine tree tries to hold it's world together.
Photo by JumpYankeeStudios
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DID YOU KNOW?
Sand is the Earth in miniature. Every rock eventually succumbs to erosion and will become sand with time. ... Particles of sand are cemented together to become sedimentary rocks, which may have different appearances, depending on the size and composition of the sand particles.
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ABOUT THE BLUE WALL
Spanning three states (North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and encompassing 859,000 acres, the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment, known as the 'Blue Wall' by Native Americans, contains some of the highest natural diversity of rare plants and animals found anywhere in the world.
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PLEASE CALL 864-280-5501 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS!
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Love Jocassee? Help protect and preserve the beauty of Lake Jocassee and the Jocassee Gorges by joining FOJ!
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 Mountain Lakes Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Your Portal to Paradise!
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Home Away From Home
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