Blog

Spooky Season, Jocassee Wild Child Style! With Halloween just around the corner, we added a little SPOOKY fun to our Jocassee Wild Child adventure! Armed with green laser pointers, we explored a dark cave and discovered several fascinating lampshade spiders! We also found Devil’s Walking Stick plants, covered in wicked-looking thorns, and learned how this…

So, I wrote a book… Or, more to the point, I compiled a book. It’s a book about Jocassee. Over thirteen years I’ve written about the nature of Jocassee every week, featuring different beings who live here: loons, Oconee bells, millipedes, Great blue herons. I’ve written about events that continue to shape this remarkable place:…

Yesterday, Monday afternoon, Kerry, our dogs and another dog of our friends, landed at one of the ‘Beaches’ near one of the boat ramps. We climbed a bit because of the steepness of getting down into the cove. When we climbed back up to go to our car, I noticed white to pink blossoms on…

Stumps Sixty years have gone by since these trees were laid down by the sawyer’s chain. The stumps remain. Six decades, hiding just under the surface of Lake Jocassee, marking the past life of  living, breathing beings who once sent young root tips poking through shallow, fragile soil into bedrock fractured millions of years before….

I take Wild Child students for a walk on Turtle Island because it provides easy access to a good variety of trees and shrubs that are common in the gorges. We’ve found at least 15 tree species, and I could talk about plants all day, but I know the attention span of the typical fourth…

Rain, Finally Rain   The awesome power of water inspires: the ease with which it carves its own rushing path, the way it tosses loads both heavy and cumbersome, crown over root, along its way. Boulder and sand, tree trunk and stone, all tumbled along together until water loses its energy and lays these things…

Most often, one of the first stops on our tours is out at Mt. Carmel Church Buoy where we share a bit of history with you. 138’ below that buoy lies the remnants of the old church cemetery. Mt. Carmel church was the largest church in the valley. When there was a death in the…

I wait for rain with all the patience of a five-year-old waiting for Santa Claus. Lake Jocassee’s clear, cool water has dropped to a new low of 16’ below full pool; ancient gneiss rocks carrying old propeller scars now rise ten feet into open air. Familiar landmarks look familiar no more. Favorite talking points—the wintergreen…

Waking to mornings in the 50’s this week found us grabbing jackets, hoodies and leggings. With mugs of coffee or hot tea in hand, we headed towards the dock. The Fall Jocassee Wild Child program is in full swing, and these kids don’t seem to mind getting a little chilly as long as they get…

A Lake Made By Loving Hands by Levi Drake Where once the quiet earth lay bare, Kind hearts imagined beauty there. With patient toil and steadfast grace, They shaped a dream, a resting place. Each stone was set with hope and care, Each drop became a whispered prayer. The winds soon learned its gentle name,…

  ‍September is for spiders. On less humid days, the boat floats through gossamer strands carrying spiders to their next destination. Spiny back and marbled orb weavers’ carefully woven dinner plates cross the trails. Joro spiders’ three-dimensional golden webs are everywhere, high and low. I can’t help but admire their determination to live. Recently, while…

  Date Night In September, every night is date night. Brooks and I golfcart to the lake, eschewing television drama for gentle rhythms of lake life. Then we walk. Narrow lines of wrack outline recent drops of water level. We walk through a short stretch of woods where whitewash from a vultures’ roost has left…