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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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Autumn
A mature bald eagle circles over Lake Jocassee on an afternoon as cool and clear as the lake’s calm water. Boats are few and far between. Waterfalls still hide behind leaf cover but for those few, popular, well-known exceptions. Lichen-crusted rock reflects picture-perfect onto the water, and the undulating water reflects back onto overhanging rock. Lake levels have dropped and once again a wonder of shoreline is revealed, ancient rock jutting ruggedly westward. The lone pine guarding the entrance into Horsepasture Valley still holds its world together, but the gap between trunk and root tip grows ever wider. Now a juvenile bald eagle glides overhead. Animal world is restless, on the move, keenly aware of shorter days and colder weather. To the casual eye looking for an explosion of fall color it is not yet here, but those who know trees note beautiful bright red sourwoods and black gums leading a swift and inevitable change from green to winter gray, with a few weeks of brilliance in between. ~K
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Hanging on, for how long?
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
GUIDED KAYAK TOURS! Last one of the season!
Sunday, October 27: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
1st SUNDAY EXPEDITIONS w/ Patrick McMillan
BONUS DATE! Nov. 10: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
JOCASSEE VALLEY HISTORY TOUR ~ Cherokee History w/ Dave LaVere
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WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
EVERY WEDNESDAY TOUR
EVERY SATURDAY TOUR
October 26: 10:00-2:00 PM Book Now!
SATURDAY SUNSET TOUR
EVERY SUNDAY AFTERNOON TOUR
BOOK A PRIVATE JOCASSEE LAKE TOUR TODAY!
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October 26, 2015
STATE PARK EVENTS
Oconee Station State Historic Site
January 1-December 31
Saturdays & Sundays: 1:00-5:00 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.
Keowee-Toxaway State Park
October 25-27
Robert Rommel is offering a Nature Photography Workshop for beginner and intermediate photographers. The workshops will focus on three pillars of nature photography: 1) art - composition, color, and lighting; 2) technical - camera controls, exposure, and sharpness; and 3) creativity - unique perspectives, communication, and mood.
Table Rock State Park
October 26: 9:00-11:00 AM
Forest colors should be near their peak and there is no better time to enjoy autumn's beauty. This guided walk follows the Lakeside Trail around Pinnacle Lake. Insights about seasonal changes within the forest ecosystem will be shared along the trail.
GNHA
October 26: 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Women Trailblazing the Carolinas
October 26: 9:15 AM-3:00 PM
Tri-County Adventure Group
October 26: 9:30 AM-12:30 PM
Hidden Falls.
GNHA
October 27: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
*****Not a beginner hike! This is a very strenuous climb.
GNHA
October 27: 12:00-6:00 PM
This will be a pleasant ramble to a 50-foot cascade. After the hike, we’ll drive across the street to Stumphouse Tunnel and Issaqueena Falls.
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Lake Conestee Nature Park
October 25: 9:30-11:00 AM
The kids will be in charge during this fun, kid-directed exploration of the park. With guidance from our educator, the kids will get to choose where we go, what activities we do, and what we learn about.
Oconee History Museum
October 25: 7:00-8:30 PM
Join OHM staff as they walk the streets of Walhalla telling stories of murders, crimes, and legends.
Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center
October 26: 6:00-10:00 PM
Please join the Hagood Mill Foundation at our 1st Annual Fall Fundraiser. We have an amazing evening in store for the lovers of the Hagood Mill, including live music, dinner, a silent auction and raffles.
Lake Conestee Nature Park
October 26: 6:30-8:30 PM
Join park educators as we explore the park by night. This is our most popular Saturday event and it will sell out so reserve your space soon! We will use a night time spotlight to help us see what is wondering around the park in the dark.
SC Botanical Garden Events
October 22: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
Enter the forest to explore the giants of the plant world with Dan Whitten, President of the Upstate Chapter of the SCNPS. Become familiar with our native trees, shrubs and woody vines by learning to recognize their bark, leaves, twigs, fruit, and form.
Dan Whitten with the state champion Horsesugar, Symplocos tinctoria, at Clemson Experimental Forest
October 24: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
This workshop with soils expert Dr. Dara Park, Clemson University, introduces participants to soil fundamentals. Topics covered are texture, structure, soil biology and water movement. We will review the different soils present in South Carolina, and how plant communities and soils influence each other.
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THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
OCTOBER 21, 2019
It’s just what we need. Warm, sunny days with crisp, chilly nights. And now rain, thanks to Tropical Storm Nestor - and who the heck is named Nestor anyway? All the elements are aligned for a spectacular fall color season this year. Yes, it’s still pretty darned green here, as it always is ‘til nearly the end of October. But then the magic happens, just as October fades into November. Prepare yourself. There is no other place on earth like the southern Appalachian mountains this time of year, and no other place quite like Lake Jocassee and the Jocassee Gorges in the southern Appalachians. It’s the place to be, on the planet, in early November. If you’re on the lake with us during the first two weeks of November, asked to be taken way up the backwaters, the creeks, the places where the rivers are the narrowest. That’s where you’ll find the magic.
Winter Waterbird Report. No loons this week but eagles seen most every day, and one lone horned grebe. Where there is one there are more. ~B
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER
STATE PARK EVENTS
Table Rock State Park
November 9: 2:00-6:00 PM
Women Trailblazing the Carolinas
November 2: 9:30 AM-12:00 PM
GNHA
November 3: 1:30-5:30 PM
GNHA
November 9: 8:30 AM-3:30 PM
Foothills Adventure Club
November 9-10: 8:00 AM-3:00 PM
GNHA
November 10: 12:00-3:00 PM
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Greenville County Bird Club
October 28: 6:30-7:30 PM
Lake Conestee Nature Park
November 1: 9:30-11:00 AM
Foothills Trail Conservancy
November 1-3
Foothills Trail Conservancy
November 2
Greenville County Bird Club
November 4 & 6: 6:30 PM
SCNPS
November 9: 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
November 9: 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
November 12: 2:00-3:30 PM
Mushroom Mountain
November 12: 7:00-11:00 PM
Lake Conestee Nature Park
November 15: 9:30-11:00 AM
Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center
November 15: 6:30-8:00 PM
Palmetto Conservation Foundation
November 15-17: 6:00 AM
Greenville County Bird Club
November 16: 8:00-10:30 AM (Shorter Walk)
November 16: 8:00 AM-12:00 (Longer Walk)
Holly Springs Center
November 16: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center
November 16: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
SC Botanical Garden Events
November 1: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
November 9:00-11:00 AM
November 9: 9:00 AM-12:00 PM
BORROWED GLIMPSES
David Hass captured the photo of this Bald eagle coming down to catch a fish!
Wright Creek Falls, October 2019.
Photo by Christina McLean
Day's end in the Jocassee Gorges.
Photo by Christina McLean
JOCASSEE WILD OUTDOOR EDUCATION
JOCASSEE WILD NATURALIST INTRODUCTORY CLASS
Sunday, Nov. 17: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Tuesday, Dec. 3: 11:00 AM-3:00 PM Book Now!
Have you ever wished to go further and deeper into the study of the Jocassee Gorges? This program allows you to do just that. Eight core courses and four elective recreational requirements are available, so study what interests you most, or take all eight core classes and one elective to become a certified Jocassee Naturalist. THE JOCASSEE GORGES INTRODUCTION CLASS IS A REQUIRED PREREQUISITE TO THE JOCASSEE WILD NATURALIST CERTIFICATION PROGRAM.
www.jocasseewild.org
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DID YOU KNOW?
The Horned Grebe has a unique adaptation for swallowing fish whole. They will eat their own feathers from a young age, so that their stomach has a matted plug that functions as a filter to hold fish bones until digestion.
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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
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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.png) Mountain Lakes Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Your Portal to Paradise!
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Lake Jocassee
&
Lake Keowee
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