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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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Joe-pye
Joe-pye may not scream “end of summer,” but it states it very firmly. Throughout the season this plants strong hollow stems lengthen between evenly spaced whorls of tough, lanceolate leaves. By the time it blooms, Joe-pye stands tall over roadside companions, commanding attention from all passers-by. Masses of tiny mauve florets form a large, loose panicle the size of a football, bigger, even, as hard to ignore as the bright August sun. Joe-pye is the quintessential August wildflower, a tough, stubborn beauty. The hero of my faux historical novel, should I ever write one, will be named Joe Pye. He’ll be tall, strong and lean, and handsome, of course, with symmetrical features and a head full of curly hair, and a well-kept beard and mustache. Probably not mauve hair, though.~K
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Joe-pye
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
EVERY SUNDAY GUIDED KAYAK TOURS!
JOCASSEE FAMILY ADVENTURE CAMP!
JOCASSEE RIVER ADVENTURE TOUR!
FULL MOON RISING TOUR ~ Corn Moon!
FIRST SUNDAY EXPEDITIONS WITH PATRICK MCMILLIAN!
SKY FALLS EXPEDITION!
September 8: 10:00 AM--4:00 PM Book Now
STALKING THE WILD JOCASSEE WITH DAN WHITTEN!
September 12: 10:00 AM--2:00 PM Book Now
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WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
EVERY WEDNESDAY TOUR
WEDNESDAY SUNSET TOUR
EVERY SATURDAY TOUR
August 25: 10:00 AM--2:00 PM Book Now
EVERY SUNDAY TOUR
EVERY SUNDAY AFTERNOON TOUR
864-280-5501
PRIVATE TOURS ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE
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Jocassee, on the edge of silence
AUGUST 20
STATE PARK EVENTS
Oconee Station State Historic Site
January 1--December 31
Saturdays & Sundays: 1:00--5:00 PM
Gorges State Park
August 20-21: 11:00 AM
Join us on a guided hike to one of the most popular waterfalls in NC, Rainbow Falls. Learn about the area’s history, its trees and plants, and waterfall safety all while enjoying the Horsepasture River, which is a nationally designated wild and scenic river shared with SC.
Oconee State Park
August 24: 8:00--10:00 PM
It's Friday night and time to dance! Grab your partner and two-step to Oconee State Park's barn for a night of fun, music and square dancing. Bluegrass music is performed by the Dixie Bluegrass Boys, led by Georgia Music Hall of Famer Curtis Blackwell.
Gorges State Park
August 26: 10:00 AM
Learn about the different species of pines that can be found in the park and how to tell them apart on this guided hike from the Visitors’ Center.
August 25: 10:00 AM--4:00 PM
Come hike with outdoor specialist Alex Garcia. His locally based company, Earthskills LLC, specializes in instructing students about surviving in the wild. He’ll help ID edibles in the woods.
GHNA
August 26: 12:00--6:00 PM
This trail is in and out to the beach at Possum Pool on the Chattooga. Eat lunch and enjoy a swim before returning.
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Atlanta Outdoor Club
August 25-26: 6:00 AM--5:00 PM
Foothills Trail Backpack- Section 1- Oconee to Bad Creek Access
Join us for a weekend backpack on the Foothills Trail. The Foothills Trail is an approximately 77-mile National Recreation Trail in South and North Carolina. It extends from Oconee State Park in the west to Table Rock State Park in the east.
Mushroom Mountain
August 25-26: 9:00 AM--5:00 PM
Wild Mushroom Food Safety Certification
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This 5 year mushroom foraging permit meets the criteria required by the state health departments is and formally approved for the foraging and selling of wild mushrooms in the following states: Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
August 25: 11:00 AM--4:00 PM
Join Clemson’s Entomology Club and Master Naturalists to take a close up look at the fascinating lives of insects. Beetles, bugs, butterflies and more.
August 26: 8:15--9:45 PM
Join naturalist James Wilkins each month on the full moon and experience the sights, sounds and sensations of nature at night.
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THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
August 20, 2018
5 AM. We live at Jocassee, just behind Devils Fork State Park, in the midst of a thick stand of second growth forest, just like the rest of the Jocassee Gorges. As well, we live along the front face of the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment, called by the Cherokees the Blue Wall. This area of the Blue Wall has the darkest skies in the southeast. At 5am, my usual rising time, on mornings when the moon has already gone to rest, the darkness is a solid curtain, seemingly impenetrable. And silent. It is this near absolute silence and darkness that defines Jocassee at this hour, this time of night just before the birds but well after the katydids. It’s a holy time to me, my dog Mica’s head in my lap, this silent void that lasts so briefly each day.
COMING SOON!
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER
STATE PARK EVENTS
Oconee Station State Historic Site
September 1: 10:00 AM--3:00 PM
Devils Fork State Park
September 8: 9:00 AM--2:00 PM
Table Rock State Park
September 8: 2:00--6:00 PM
Greenville Sea Kayakers
September 8: 9:00 AM--12:00 PM
Greenville Sea Kayakers
September 8: 9:30 AM--12:00 PM
Greenville Sea Kayakers
September 8: 1:00--3:00 PM
Foothills Trail Conservancy
September 1: 9:00 AM--4:00 PM
SCUMS
September 3: 6:00--8:30 PM
Friends of Jocassee
September 8: 9:00 AM--12:00 PM
Hagood Mill
September 8: 12:00--2:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
September 12: 2:00 PM
Foothills Trail Conservancy
September 15: 5:00 PM
Atlanta Outdoor Club
September 16: 7:30 AM--7:30 PM
SC Botanical Garden Events
September 6: 4:00--5:30 PM
(Repeats Alt. Thursdays through May)
September 7: 7:00 AM
September 8: 9:00 AM--5:00 PM
BORROWED GLIMPSES
Only one more week of Jocassee Adventure Camp, Summer Edition! Watch for more JAC! during the coming months.
The fungal equivalent of cauliflower.
Photo by Tricia Kyzer
Mmmm... a viscous violet mushroom.
Photo by Tricia Kyzer
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DID YOU KNOW?
Joe-pye is a native plant with medicinal uses. The Iroquois and Cherokee are said to have used its roots and flowers as a diuretic to help with urinary and kidney ailments, while the roots and leaves could be steeped in hot water and the liquid taken for fever and inflammation. Joe-pye (which is said to be dangerous if used without caution) is a sweat inducer, which is probably the mechanism of cure.
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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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