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Greetings
Welcome to the Blue Wall Weekly, your source for what's going on outside along the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment. Feel free to share your own photos, videos, and adventures along the Blue Wall by sending them to the email address at the bottom of the page, and we'll do our best to make you (locally) famous!
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Glory
Sunlight illuminates leaves of crimson, gold, and yellow against the Carolina blue sky. Beautiful, aged leaves, wearing scars of seasons past. There’s no perfection to these fading leaves, spotted as they are by fungus, edges carved ragged by hungry caterpillars, torn by winds of summer storms, but beautiful, they are. Trees have no concern of vanity, no need for cosmetics, no desire to win the admiration of other beings. Just as they reach the peak of color the leaves let go, drifting to the ground to feed the fungus and keep warm the caterpillars, in what I can only perceive as a perfect act of unconditional love. ~K
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
JOCASSEE VALLEY HISTORY TOUR ~ Cherokee History w/ Dave LaVere
1st SUNDAY EXPEDITION w/ Patrick McMillan
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WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
EVERY WEDNESDAY TOUR
EVERY SATURDAY TOUR
November 23: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM Book Now!
EVERY SUNDAY AFTERNOON TOUR
BOOK A PRIVATE JOCASSEE LAKE TOUR TODAY!
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Winter morning on Lake Jocassee
STATE PARK EVENTS
Oconee Station State Historic Site
January 1-December 31
Saturdays & Sundays: 1:00-5:00 PM
Originally a military compound and later a trading post, this Historic Site offers both recreational opportunities and a unique look at 18th and 19th century South Carolina.
Blue Ridge Backpackers
November 22: 9:00 AM-
November 29: 4:00 PM
Because of the distance, possible cold weather, and short days, this may not be a hike for newbies!
GNHA
November 23: 8:00 AM-5:00 PM
Carpooling to Holly Springs Country Store at SC Hwy. 11 & US 178. From there we’ll be starting at the parking lot at the intersection of E Preston McDaniel Road and 9 Times Road where we’ll do a loop hike that will take us to some impressive rock formations.
Nine Times Preserve - Photo from Only in Your State/SC
Women Trailblazing the Carolinas
November 24: 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
GNHA
November 24: 10:00 AM-5:30 PM
This is a beautiful, scenic trail following the Chattooga River upstream from the Iron Bridge at Bullpen Road to Whiteside Cove Road.
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
SCNPS
November 19: 7:00-8:30 PM
Buzz Williams, the founder and former executive director of the Chattooga Conservancy, is heavily involved in the non-profit’s Native Cane Restoration Project, a collaborative cost-share effort with the USDA Forest Service. The project goal is to restore 29 acres of native cane located on the Oconee County side of the SC Highway 28 Bridge that crosses the Chattooga River into Georgia.
Arundinaria gigantea- giant cane
SC Botanical Garden Events
November 20 & 22: 1:00-2:30 PM
Join us each month, for an exciting, hands-on learning experience! Designed for children ages five and up.
November 23: 11:00 AM-4:00 PM
Learn how plants and animals prepare for the coming of winter.
Nature studies at SCBG
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THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
NOVEMBER 18, 2019
WINTER WALKING. There is this walk within Devils Fork State Park, between the two remote ramps, that I save for winter each year. It’s just a mile and a half back and forth between the ramps, and yet possesses a nice bit of vertical climb, so the walk is pretty good early morning exercise for myself and Mica, my deliriously happy dog on these walks. No traffic at first light, and plenty of squirrels to chase. That’s the magic formula for Mica. For me it’s the early morning light streaming through the forest, and the first calls of the loons as they come in from their rafts of safety at night, well out into the basin, seeking their first meal of the day, wailing out to locate their companions. The loons weren’t there this morning, as they are just now arriving from their summer breeding ponds. They’ll be there soon though, and I will know then that ‘our loons’, the ones that ply this shore every morning through the winter months, are here for the season, this fine season of solitude, long shadows, and the grace of the loons. ~B
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER
STATE PARK EVENTS
Women Trailblazing the Carolinas
December 1: 9:00 AM-3:00 PM
GNHA
December 7: 8:30 AM-6:00 PM
Blue Ridge Backpackers
December 7-8: 8:00 AM-4:00 PM
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Foothills Trail Conservancy
November 30
Holly Springs Center
December 7: 10:00 AM-2:00 PM
Foothills Trail Conservancy
December 7
Atlanta Outdoor Club
December 7-8: 6:00 AM-7:30 PM
Friends of Jocassee (FOJ)
December 9: 12:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
December 10: 2:00-3:30 PM
Mushroom Mountain
December 12: 6:00-10:00 PM
SC Botanical Garden Events
December 6: 9:00 AM
December 7: 9:00-11:00 AM
BORROWED GLIMPSES
Photo by Carol Paulk
Loons are arriving daily!
Photo by Marlena Kee
Green and gold
Photo by Jessica Miles
JOCASSEE WILD OUTDOOR EDUCATION
JOCASSEE WILD YOUTH FIELD TRIPS
Do kids NEED to be outside? Of course they do! Jocassee Wild Outdoor Education offers school field trips into the Jocassee Gorges - by way of Lake Jocassee - to conduct hands-on investigations into the many wonders of this unique and valuable eco-system. These field trips are structured to 4th, 5th, and 6th grade SC State Standards. Public, private, charter, and home schools welcome!
Call Kay at 864-280-5502 for more information.
www.jocasseewild.org
HIKING? WEAR ORANGE! IT'S HUNTING SEASON!
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DID YOU KNOW?
Until recently, loons were thought to mate for life. However, banding loons to allow the identification of individuals has shown that loons will often switch mates if their previous mate does not return in the spring or is displaced by a rival loon during the breeding season.
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ABOUT THE BLUE WALL
Spanning three states (North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and encompassing 859,000 acres, the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment, known as the 'Blue Wall' by Native Americans, contains some of the highest natural diversity of rare plants and animals found anywhere in the world.
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Phone: 864-280-5501
PLEASE CALL 864-280-5501 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS!
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Love Jocassee? Help protect and preserve the beauty of Lake Jocassee and the Jocassee Gorges by joining FOJ!
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.png) Mountain Lakes Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Your Portal to Paradise!
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Lake Jocassee
&
Lake Keowee
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61°F
45°F
