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Christmas Cruise‍ On a day when so many celebrate the birth of a savior, we navigate a boat around the rocky shoreline of Lake Jocassee. Time and erosion have weathered long, deep seams into the rock; freeze and thaw cycles have wedged into seams until large chunks of rock loosen and fall into this clear…

‍The slower we go, the more we see. The tranquility of Jocassee in winter, the silence, the sound of water falling, not motors running, the sounds of wild birds who’ve joined us here for winter. Sometimes I remember it is why I live here. It’s an entirely magical time of year, a time and a…

Oh, the chilly windy weather is frightful, but the company is so delightful, so as long as we take it slow,  let it blow, let it blow, let it blow!  Merry Christmas 2U2‍ What a day! Birds, everywhere. One herring gull, brownish, big as a turkey, looking a little awkward surrounded by dainty, agile Bonaparte’s…

  “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” Eleanor Roosevelt Click to order: https://jocasseelaketours.com/gift-certificates/

Vacation, week 2‍ Two weeks. In the grand scheme of things, closing shop for two weeks doesn’t sound like much, but it has been enough. Enough time to listen to leaves crunching underfoot on long walks, to the song of streams swollen by recent welcome rain, to the call of owls in the night. Enough…

The last week in November each year signals a transition for the JLT crew. As we head into the cooler season, we take a couple of well-deserved weeks to rest before gearing back up for the coming year. Our resident common loons are arriving now, just in time to celebrate the holidays with us, and…

Squirrel, birds, dog‍ It’s Saturday Happy Hour at the bird food bar, and all our feathered friends are here. The bouncer is a gray squirrel watching placidly from the banister, front feet tucked demurely against his chest, tail flexed across his back like a blanket. The birds behave, take turns, flutter in, pick a seed,…

JOCASSEE WINTERBIRDS REPORT. The Boney’s have arrived! That’s what we gull loving bird nuts call the magnificent Bonaparte’s gulls, the smallest, most agile and acrobatic gull we see in our part of the world. They are the harbinger of fall and spring winterbird migration here. They come and go with the loons, every year….

Swinging from a star…‍ ‍For my husband to pull me out of the warm and cozy house on a cold and cloudy morning just past daybreak, it better be good. It is. I spy the leaf as the car rolls towards the boat ramp. A single bright yellow maple leaf is suspended in mid-air, nothing…

One morning this week, draped in ponchos and snuggled under blankets, we left the dock under a ceiling of dark, moisture-laden clouds, misting rain and air temps hovering in the 50’s. After introductions and questions of expectations for the day, one man in particular said he was hoping to see a bald eagle. 20 minutes…

Misty morning‍ ‍Thursday, finally, a soaking rain falls, enough rain to give Jocassee Valley a deep, quenching drink. Through the night it rains, dimming the light of a nearly full moon, softening ground, rinsing dust. Friday morning’s sun rises into fog and fine mist, moisture that suspends like shining beads along a spider’s web. On…

JOCASSEE WINTERBIRDS REPORT I heard loons this morning, under a fine late fall sky. First a long, lonely wail at daybreak, coming from the Bootleg ramp area of the big water, then several hoots of loons gathering together, likely preceding a period of morning feeding. Yesterday morning I heard, ever so faintly, loons calling from…