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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 by sending them to the email address at the bottom of the page, and we'll do our best to make you (locally) famous!
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WILD LIFE
The loons are wailing. Not on Lake Jocassee, but 1000 miles north on a small lake in New Hampshire. One parent is with two chicks, born Friday, who have just teetered off their nest into the water for the very first time. Across the lake, the other parent answers “coming, sweetheart! I’ll be right there!” but he/she has been foraging hard to build strength for raising these two new fluff balls. For several days Brooks has been glued to the Loon Preservation Committee loon cam. He was there for the pipping, he was there for the hatching, he waited patiently while Mom loon kept her baby tucked under her wing. He was there when that chick bounced away from Mom for the first time, and he was there for the discovery of another chick! Brooks was up in the middle of the night, keeping watch over that nest. He propped his phone (linked to the loon cam, of course) on his shopping cart in the grocery store. Now the wails come through the home computer, a larger screen. “Number two is getting up on Mom’s/Dad’s back now,” he announces from the living room. Another first. And then, a ruckus. What is going on? Oh, no! Not a snapping turtle! Where is Dad now? Where is the second chick? Oh, the drama. I can’t take it. ~K
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Baby loons in the Adirondacks
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
June 28: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
July 3, 19, 12, 24: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Every Friday, July 1-18: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Kid's Kayak Class and Fun Adventures Book Now! (Look under 'KIDS' tab)
July 5, 19: 10:30-2:30 PM
August 2, 16, 30: 10:30-2:30 PM
July 12: 7:00-9:00 PM
July 17: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
STATE PARK EVENTS
Table Rock State Park
June 28: 9:00-10:30 AM
A guided hike along Carrick Creek Trail will reveal how the geology, plants, and animals all fit into the ecology of this mountain forest.
Gorges State Park
June 28: 1:00 PM
Come learn about the bugs that our fish love so much and see some fly fishing flies… it’s sure to be a REEL good time!
Table Rock State Park
June 29: 9:00-10:00 AM
Explore a mountain stream to see what creatures live in a cold-water habitat.
Stonefly larvae, Photo by Tricia Kyzer
Gorges State Park
June 29: 10:00 AM
Join our park naturalist to learn about responsible herping, the citizen science act of finding amphibians and reptiles!
Oconee State Park
July 1: 7:00-9:00 PM
OSP invites you to spend your summer Friday nights enjoying live music by the Dixie Bluegrass Boys and lots of family fun!
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
World of Energy
June 29: 10:00 AM
Children will build and take home a butterfly puddle bath for their home gardens.
Eastern Tiger Swallowtails,
Photo by NC State Parks
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
June 27: 8:30 AM-3:00 PM
Enjoy learning about the animal kingdom through outdoor exploration, games, crafts and more. Ages 6-12.
Celebrating pollinators, SCBG photo
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WEEKLY EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
Tues., Wed., Thurs., Sat., & Sun.
10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Wednesday & Saturday: 7:00-9:00 PM
CALL OR BOOK ONLINE TO RESERVE SEATS
PRIVATE TOURS ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE!
FISHING ADVENTURES WITH CAPT. ZACH
Call to Book!
THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
JUNE 27, 2022
Here’s an unknown fact about Lake Jocassee for you. Although it doesn’t have currents, replaced as they are by winds, it does have tides. Uncertain and unpredictable, it adds to the adventure and wonder of each day here. The mystery of our tides is provided by Duke Energy, the benign yet secretive Overlord of both Lake Jocassee and Lake Keowee. Some mornings we awake to a full lake, other mornings to a lake with broad beaches throughout. And some mornings, my favorite kind of morning here, the tide will be withdrawn just a bit, leaving new and unexplored coves and tender white sand beaches to call your own. it’s like discovering Tahiti before it was, well, Tahiti. Really! You’ll feel like you’ve found a new world. And you have! ~B
STATE PARK EVENTS
Table Rock State Park
July 9: 2:00-6:00 PM
Western NC Backpackers
July 15: 5:00 PM-July 17: 4:00 PM
Foothills Trail: Backpacking with a Sunset Boat Tour: Lake Jocassee
GNHA
July 23
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Mushroom Mountain
July 9-10: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
July 14: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Mushroom Mountain
July 16
Greenville County Bird Club
July 16: 7:00 AM-12:00 PM (Longer walk)
July 16: 8:00-10:30 AM (Shorter walk)
Conestee Nature Preserve
July 16: 8:00-10:00 AM
Hagood Mill Historic Site
July 16: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Sierra Club of SC
July 21: 10:00 AM
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
July 11-15: 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
July 13: 8:00-9:30 PM
BORROWED GLIMPSES
Jump into summer fun...
JOCASSEE WILD OUTDOOR EDUCATION (JWOE)
or mail to:
Jocassee Wild Outdoor Education
PO Box 582, Salem, SC 29676
THANK YOU!
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DID YOU KNOW?
Loon parents – both of them alternating the duty – will set on eggs between 26 and 30 days. Boat wakes can knock eggs out of the shallow depressions of the nest and into the water. Humans and predators coming too close to the nest can cause loons to knock their own eggs into the water in their hurry to get away.
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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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Phone: 864-280-5501
Jocassee Lake Tours Depart from the Main Dock at Devils Fork State Park
PLEASE CALL 864-280-5501 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS!
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Enjoy this Lake Jocassee peaceful hideaway.
CAMP GLAMP!
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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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Visit Oconee Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Your Portal to Paradise!
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Lake Jocassee
&
Lake Keowee
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