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They’ve been underground since 2011. That year, vertical slits cut into slender tree twigs were tell-tale signs of where Magicicada females had laid their eggs. Eventurally, eggs hatched, tiny nymph cicadas dropped and burrowed through decomposing leaves, and for the past thirteen years they’ve lived in the ground, slowly, slowly, growing. Soon, maybe today, nature…

The Wonder Benches. There are two of them at Devils Fork State Park, thanks to the generosity of Friends of Jocassee. One faces out on the lake from the day use area, the other just above the working dock. Both are perfectly good places to plant oneself and just take in the wonder of Jocassee….

She senses us from a distance, squats into the grassy field, but a bird the size of a turkey hen can hardly disappear in shorn grass. We stop, watch quietly. She stands tall again. Within seconds a fluffy ball of baby turkey appears behind her. And then another, and another, until seven baby turkeys follow…

Each morning, before leaving the dock, I double check my weather app & Duke’s lake levels site just to be as certain as possible about the forecast for the day and what shoals to watch for.  Feeling fairly confident the predicted storms would start after we finished our tours, we set out in search of adventure.  Before…

Strong storms in the southeast are not uncommon in May, but strong storms on the sun that can be seen in the southeast… well, that’s definitely not common. A week of thunder and lightning, of hail and downed trees and tornados gave way to a clear, bright sky on Friday evening. Upstate SC observed a…

This week, I had a serious case of FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out. After 5 years of leading the Jocassee Wild Child (JWC) Adventures, I stood on the dock, helped untie the boat lines and watched the kids and their awesome guides wave back at me, saying “bye, see you later!”  It took everything…

Everything changes. This week change comes to this newsletter, after eleven years, seven months, and a few days. That equals 582 weeks of the Blue Wall Weekly. The first two editions crashed and did not go public; the third edition did not display graphics. In January of 2017 our mailing list was hacked and our…

MUDDY KIDS. ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOWS. It must be spring on Jocassee. What a lovely Tuesday morning it was, as we waited for a small herd of young’uns from Powdersville Elementary to arrive. The Devils Fork basin was full of hooting loons and Bonaparte’s gulls, just when I thought spring loon migration was done. And northern rough-winged…

                                                                                         FLOWERS Hard though it may to describe a scent, than comparing…

A Deeper Look! Part of the interface between South Carolina piedmont and southern Blue Ridge Escarpment is enclosed within a little-known tract of land called the Jocassee Gorges. Only a couple of highways penetrate this land, and the best access is from Lake Jocassee, which nestles into the folds of the mountains at 1100’ above…

Rainforest to Rainforest! It’s raining in Dominica, soft, fine, gentle rain, and the sun is shining through the thick tropical foliage enough to illuminate every drop. I have a view through the mountains all the way down to the Caribbean Sea from the deck outside my glamping tent. A stand of mystical kava grows on…

We’ve been on this incredible journey for 13 years. I’m proud of what we stand for, the work we do. Here’s our mission statement as we go headlong into a new and challenging year. The mission of Jocassee Lake Tours and Jocassee Wild Outdoor Education is the promotion and protection of the Jocassee Gorges ecosystem…