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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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Bloom Time Continues
Some people mark the passage of seasons by day length or temperature; I mark the passage of time by what’s blooming around Lake Jocassee. Right now it’s Rhododendron minus, the one shrub that lacks a proper nickname all its own, making a show of lavender flowers on the west side of the lake. The beautiful star-flowered mountain laurel is fading away, just as pale Carolina rhododendron faded as mountain laurel came into full bloom. Next up will be rosebay rhododendron and sourwood trees as bloom time on Jocassee hits full summer, and soon enough the tiny flowers of devil’s walkingstick will appear, once again, as big as a baby elephant’s head. As time weaves its way through bud and leaf, flower and fruit, we can anticipate the future even as we’re enjoy the present gift of nature. ~K
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Rhododendron minus, a.k.a. Gorges rhododendron, small-leaf rhododendron, and punctatum
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
May 29: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
June 5: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
June 14: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
June 3: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
June 10: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
June 17: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
First Sunday Nature Expeditions w/ Keith Bradley Book Now!
June 5: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Starting June 12: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
June 13: 7:00-9:00 PM
FISHING ADVENTURES WITH CAPT. ZACH
Call to Book!
Taking the PLUNGE into FUN
STATE PARK EVENTS
Oconee Station State Historic Site
Park Grounds Open Daily: 9:00 AM-6:00 PM
Originally a military compound and later a trading post, this Historic Site offers both recreational opportunities and a unique look at 18th and 19th century South Carolina. Oconee Station, a stone blockhouse used as an outpost by the S.C. State Militia from about 1792 to 1799, and the William Richards House, are the only two structures that remain today.
OSSHS, William Richards House
Oconee State Park
May 27: 7:00-9:00 PM
From now until September 2, 2022, Oconee State Park invites you to spend your summer Friday nights enjoying live music by the Dixie Bluegrass Boys and lots of family fun! Come and make some memories with us.
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Oconee History Museum
May 24: 12:00 PM
Josh Johnson, Museum Site Coordinator at the Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina, will showcase one of our county's most intriguing topics: moonshining.
Sierra Club South Carolina
May 26: 10:00 AM
Spoonauger Falls is a 50’ high waterfall that runs down a stepped rock face in a broad sheet. The Falls are set back into a hillside and surrounded by an explosion of Rhododendron.
Spoonauger Falls, Photo by Oana Hogrefe
Conestee Nature Preserve
May 28: 10:00 AM-12:00 PM
The last Saturdays of each month, look for our Environmental Educators on the trails. We love sharing the latest wonders of the Preserve with you!
Mushroom Mountain
May 28-29: 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
Join bestselling authors Robert Rogers, (Fungal Pharmacy) and Tradd Cotter, (Organic Mushroom Farming and Mycoremediation) for a rare TWO DAY all-inclusive workshop on Medicinal Mushrooms!
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
May 26: 4:00-5:30 PM
Children ages 6 - 12 are invited to join us in this popular program to explore the Garden and learn about the natural world.
May 28: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
Learn the useful identification characteristics of grasses (leaves, stems, flower parts, etc.). Your expert guide is Bill Stringer, Associate Professor Emeritus of Agronomy and Soils.
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WEEKLY EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
Warm Season Lake Tours
Tues., Wed., Thurs., Sat., & Sun.:
CALL OR BOOK ONLINE TO RESERVE SEATS
PRIVATE TOURS ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE!
THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
MAY 23, 2022
What a WILD & WONDERFUL week! My first week back post-surgery and my fellow naturalists and I were happily challenged to take 94 really cool kids from Youth Learning Academy on a Jocassee Wild Child Outdoor Education Adventure. Blue skies and a beaming hot sun provided lots of opportunities to swim in the invigorating pools on the Thompson River, soak under the chilling Wright Creek waterfall, jump from old protruding rocks into the clear clean water below, and float happily in the mix of aquamarine and jade-colored waters at Tahiti beach. I am all about having FUN! I believe that modeling and teaching fun is extremely important because it is one of our most basic needs as humans and it’s an essential part of students’ learning. As guides we toss the kids a few fun nuggets about the history of the valley, how and when the Blue Ridge Mountains were formed, what a temperate rain forest is and what they will see, hear, taste, feel, and smell in the Jocassee Gorges….all the while having loads of fun! When we treat fun with the seriousness it deserves combined with support, connection, love, and clear instruction students are more willing to participate and take risks. Oh, and the memories they create in this short 4-hour adventure will last a lifetime! Every kid should have a heart full of these memories! As we were walking deep into the rainforest, Dr. Steve Jackson, YLA 6th grade science teacher, said “wow, the smell is so rich and earthy, the smell of damp moss, rich soil, or humus. It’s taking me back to my childhood when camping with my family in the NC mountains.” Can you close your eyes for a moment and recall a few happy childhood memories in nature with your friends, family, a summer camp or school field trip?
A few 11 year old kids quotes I was able to capture during the week:
- “I’m having the time of my life!” This quote was literally the first 5 minutes into the adventure!
- “The best field trip ever – we saw an adult bald eagle and I had no idea they sounded so wimpy.”
- “I learned so much and all I thought I was doing was having fun!”
- “I’m coming back here someday and I’m bringing my family and friends! I want to be doing something outside every day, like you!” Be still my heart. ~Kerry McKenzie, JLT guide and JWOE Director
STATE PARK EVENTS
Table Rock State Park
June 4: 9:00 AM-2:30 PM
Table Rock State Park
June 11: 2:00-6:00 PM
Blue Ridge Backpackers
June 8: 8:00 AM-June 13: 4:00 PM
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Foothills Trail Conservancy
June 4
Conestee Nature Preserve
June 4: 5:45-8:00 AM
Sierra Club South Carolina
June 4: 9:00 AM
Mushroom Mountain
June 4: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
June 9: 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
Greenville County Bird Club
June 18: 7:00 AM-12:00 PM (Longer Walk)
June 18: 8:00-10:30 AM (Shorter Walk)
Hagood Mill Historic Site
June 18: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
June 6-10: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
June 13-17: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
BORROWED GLIMPSES
Rock climbing is FUN!
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DID YOU KNOW?
Duke Energy has begun the initial steps for relicensing the Bad Creek Project. A feasibility study is underway for a plan to double the energy output of the Bad Creek facility, which would potentially involve building a second powerhouse at Bad Creek, complete with a new cavern and tunnels.
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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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