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Along the rocky edges and shorelines of Lake Jocassee the shy timber rattlesnake can be found resting quietly in its favorite coiled position. This is a cold blooded, venomous, ambush predator with a wide, triangular-shaped head. The end of its tail is black with a segmented rattle, active during warmer months and is commonly seen…

Keepers and Spoilers You, who love this place called Jocassee… you, who understand what a special place we have here… thank you for the respect you show both land and water, flora and fauna. Thank you for leaving the lightest of footprints. Thank you for leaving with all you have brought along to enjoy the…

Once in a while we luck up and get to see wildlife around the shore and occasionally swimming across the lake. This week Capt. Steve and his crew captured video of a mother black bear with her 3 cubs and me and my crew cautiously followed two wild piglets as they swam across the channel…

Low Water Down, down, down she goes; where she stops, nobody knows. Drought is taking its toll on Lake Jocassee. First, small sand beaches reappear, and boaters are happy to commandeer a private space. Rocky points extend further into the lake as water continues to drop. Rock, always lurking beneath the surface, rises from the…

  Now is the time to notice a quite showy plant, Devil’s Walkingstick or Aralia spinosa. This is a woody shrub to a small tree with large compound leaves arranged bipinnately. The leaf is attached to the trunk and can be two to four feet long and three feet wide making it the biggest leaf…

Discovery   This child. All of eighteen months, placed into clear baptismal waters at the base of Wright Creek Falls. Grandmother captures the moment in a photo. I wish I could have captured the look on this child’s face, his blond curls damp from the waterfall’s spray. It is a full-face joy, transcending amazement, transcending…

One of our favorite Jocassee Wild Child traditions is making a Mica Wish! Ever wondered what that sparkly, glittery “magic” is shimmering beneath the clear waters and along the sandy shores of Lake Jocassee? It’s mica…..a beautiful mineral found throughout our Blue Ridge Mountains. Each child chooses a piece of mica, holds it close, closes…

Bear A little past eight pm, and the sky outside holds plenty of light. I’m inside, working on this newsletter. I’m positioned so I can watch finches and hummingbirds at the feeders outside these over-sized windows. Movement catches my eye. I look up in time to see a black bear–a big one–step politely over the…

Meet one of Jocassee’s most misunderstood inhabitants: the Northern Water Snake! Just look at that sweet face! Listen, ya’ll….. these snakes are nonvenomous and play an important role in keeping aquatic ecosystems healthy by feeding on fish, frogs, and other small critters. They are not cottonmouths! We don’t have cottonmouths on Jocassee! 😊 When threatened,…

Storms The warning signs are there. It begins with a distant grumble, a closer rumble. Air hangs hot, sullen and heavy under a sky that grows darker and more threatening by the minute. Electricity brightens the world one second and deepens shadows the next. Then comes wind, first in a menacing dance with treetops, then…

Stopping to admire a rosebay rhododendron in bloom, we saw a slight movement off the right, front corner of the boat. Just as we turned to look, the shape quickly & silently slipped from the rocks into the water. With gasps and exclamations, we realized we just caught a glimpse of a river otter, trying…

The Present of Presence   These Mountains, these Gorges. They don’t speak to just anybody. Some of us are in too much of a hurry to listen. Some of us are too self-absorbed to see. Some of us leave trash behind, disrespectful of our place. But these Mountains, these Rivers, surely they speak kindly to…