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Happy New Year! Even as leaves begin to float down and seeds continue to float away; as birds have flown south and your potted annuals are about to turn black from frost; even as we humans look forward to “peak” of leaf color yet dread the darker days of coming winter, a brand-spanking new joyful…

We thought we’d seen it all out here… until a 101-year-old Wild Child showed us otherwise! I had the absolute joy of welcoming a living legend aboard — a centenarian whose birthday wish was to celebrate by touring the lake. He grinned as he gave a thumbs-up for the camera in front of a waterfall,…

Pre-peak If you’re not leaving that easy chair for a drive or a tour until the mountainsides are drenched in full-on, in-you-face color, fine. Stay there. You will be missing out on the best part of fall: the slow fade, pre-peak time of year when the wall of greenery is punctuated by startling splashes of…

  The week started on Monday with 5 boats heading out for the Full ‘Hunters’ Moon Rising Tour. The forecast called for a slight chance of rain around moonrise, but you wouldn’t have known it as we left the dock with sunshine, high clouds and perfect temperatures. About halfway through the trip, someone noticed a…

Nuts! (and seeds) POW! My eyes fly open. POP! POW! I wait for a crash that doesn’t come. Usually these POPs and POWs—which is the exact sound of wood breaking—are followed by a crash of limb or tree trunk coming down. Ice storms bring that sound. So do hurricanes. POW! I try to place the…

“What did you learn today?” At the beginning of our Wild Child adventure, I tell my students to be prepared to answer this question. None of us really know what the response will be. A lot can happen during a few hours in the Jocassee Gorges. At the beginning of our exploration, I tell them…

Goldenrod It’s early autumn. This is the season when goldenrod blooms. Why, we wonder, does this beauty not grace our own garden, realizing not that throughout summer we have willfully removed it, or poisoned it with chemical spray, deeming it a weed not worthy of the wait. We (or our paid gardeners) discard goldenrod to…

“Welcome to the Jocassee Gorges! This is YOUR place.” I smiled and held my arms out toward the beautiful cloud-kissed wall of mountains in front of us. The Jocassee green waters shimmered all around. The slightly awkward 6th graders on my boat were from Oconee County. “We are going to get to know your place…

Harvey   Her name was Harvey. She appeared between steps and banister one mid-September morning when the rising sun slanted through the porch and illuminated her perfect web. We stopped in our tracks, not willing to damage her handiwork; carefully, we traced our fingers under the orb, feeling for her long anchor threads. Remarkably, there…

  “Look carefully and tell me what you see, but don’t use the common name for it.” I hand fifth grade students from a local school some objects that I have gathered from the forest floor. The eager voices shout out the words you would expect. Leaf. Pinecone. “Those are good answers but now look…

Dacusville Elementary They might not remember the name Attakullakulla. They might not remember feldspar. They might not remember which pines have the shortest needles, or the name of the tree with the big leaves. But they will remember finding salamanders on wet rock under a waterfall. They will remember how amazing sand looks under a…

  September mornings on the lake sometimes start with a light breeze and a little chop in the main basin. As we leave the dock, most folks, including myself, have a light jacket or sweatshirt on. However, it doesn’t take long this time of year before the sun warms everything sufficiently. The jackets come off,…