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Greetings!
Welcome to the Blue Wall Weekly, your source for what's going on outside along the Southern BlueRidge 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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Damp
It doesn’t take much rain to make Mother Nature happy. It’s not much rain we have had this week, despite cancelled outings and forecasting promises. A drizzle, an occasional light shower, and now, heavy fog has settled over the landscape, hushing footsteps through fallen leaves. It's quiet enough to get a sense of these woods, young trees growing, perhaps, from old roots, in that way nature thrives with continuity. This year has graced us with a beautiful autumn, but the price has been dry weather since summer. On this second day of gray, droplets of water hang on the tips of sparkleberry and pine. Mosses and lichens are radiant. Pipsissiwa is rinsed clean of ground dander; Crane-fly orchids are brighter green on top, brighter purple underneath, and they look relieved to feel rain, finally, little though it may be. Perhaps I should hush. I hear El Nino is coming back around. We’ll adapt to whatever winter has in store, as survivors do. That’s for certain. ~K
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SPECIAL EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
#2 Laurel Fork to Canebrake
December 16: 8:30 AM
#3 Canebrake to Horsepasture
December 23: 8:30 AM
FISHING ADVENTURES WITH CAPT. ZACH
Call to Book!
CALL OR BOOK ONLINE TO RESERVE SEATS
Saturday in the park
THIS WEEK!
DECEMBER 4
STATE PARK EVENTS
Oconee Station State Historic Site
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. A self-interpretation station is available at the park office.
South Carolina State Parks
November 23, 2023-January 1, 2024
Through this scavenger hunt you will learn more about your parks, enjoy some great events, have a lot of fun -- and earn prizes!
Oconee State Park
December 1-January 10
Enjoy the lights from the warmth of your vehicle as you drive around the Lake loop through the campground. The Park is open until 9:00 PM.
Table Rock State Park
December 9: 2:00-6:00 PM
Enjoy traditional Blue Grass music as local musicians gather at Table Rock to keep this inspirational talent alive. Visitors are invited to bring their acoustic instruments and join in a jam session or simply sit back to enjoy the music with the lake and mountains as a beautiful backdrop.
Photo by Russ Carlson
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Keep Oconee Beautiful Association (KOBA)
December 9: 9:00 AM
Grab a friend or co-worker, or come by yourself and meet at the Food Lion parking lot at the corner of Hwy 123 and Old Clemson Highway.
Conestee Nature Preserve
December 9: 9:00-11:00 AM
Our Conestee team is partnering with the South Carolina Aquarium for a Conestee cleanup. During this volunteer event you will be assigned a section of the Preserve to pick up trash. We provide trash bags, trash grabbers, and gloves (provided to us by Greenville County's Litter Ends here!).
Previous clean up at CNP
GNHA
December 9: 9:00 AM-4:00 PM
The pace of this 13.1 mile hike is 2.2 to 2.75 mph and has an elevation gain of 3000’ plus.
Chattooga Bell Farm
December 9: 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Join us for a fun day of vendors, crafts, food trucks and SANTA (with a special guest).
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
December 9: 12:00-5:00 PM
“Murmuration” is an innovative outdoor sound art work that comprises 100 wirelessly controlled robotic woodblocks that are mounted on trees in large wooded areas. The instruments are triggered by computer-generated algorithms that mimic biological and geological processes.
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WEEKLY EVENTS
WITH JOCASSEE LAKE TOURS
Cool Season Lake Tours
Tuesday & Saturday: 11:00 AM-2:00 PM Book Now!
PRIVATE TOURS ARE ALWAYS AVAILABLE!
THIS WEEK ON LAKE JOCASSEE
DECEMBER 4, 2023
It was noisy this Saturday morning at first light. The ceiling was low, the fog hung just above the horizon. In such a circumstance sound travels well across the water, and I could hear loons from far across the lake. None to be seen close by, but a Horned grebe did hang out almost at my feet. First I heard wails, that lonely ‘where are you’ call loons are most well known for. They don’t migrate with their chicks nor their mate, so it is no wonder they are making such a call. Their loneliness can be felt and shared. The next call heard was the tremolo, a call loons make when excited, disturbed, and when in flight. December is prime fall migration time for loons and all the rest of the winter birds that stop at Jocassee, so what I expect I heard was a loon in the process of moving on, heading to the Gulf of Mexico, where most of our flyway birds go in winter. Lastly, I heard a one syllable attempt at a yodel, the sound males make in breeding season. It is testosterone driven, so it may be that some remnant of his summer escapades must be lingering in his memory. The noise here this time of year is bird driven, and December is the most kinetic month for fall migration. It’s my kind of noisy. It’s my kind of music. ~B
COMING SOON!
STATE PARK EVENTS
South Carolina State Parks
November 23, 2023-January 1, 2024
OTHER OUTDOOR EVENTS
Friends of Jocassee (FOJ)
December 11: 12:00-2:00 PM
Mushroom Mountain
December 14: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Sierra Club South Carolina
December 15: 2:00-5:00 PM
Green Bird Nature Therapy w/ Jeanne Malmgren
December 16
Greenville County Bird Club
December 16: 8:00-10:30 AM (Shorter walk)
December 16: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM (Longer walk)
GNHA
December 17: 8:30 AM-3:30 PM
Mushroom Mountain
December 21: 6:00-9:00 PM
SC BOTANICAL GARDEN EVENTS
READY TO RAMBLE A LITTLE FURTHER? CHECK OUT WHAT THESE FRIENDS HAVE TO OFFER!
WE HOPE YOU GOT YOUR TICKETS !
The Foothills Trail Project Documentary Premier
December 7: 6:30 PM
Camelot Cinemas
48 E Antrim Dr, Greenville, SC
Art by Andrew Gleason
Artist: Mother Nature
"Beauty will save the world" - Dosteovsky
Virginia Hawkins Falls
A Foothills Trail Collection of exquisite beauty!
Wouldn't you like to help a young person become a Jocassee Wild Child and connect with this special place?
Your support makes this program happen!
Check out what we're doing here:
and follow Jocassee Wild Child Adventures on Facebook!
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DID YOU KNOW?
Crane-fly orchids emerge as a single leaf as weather cools and leaves fall. By summer the leaf has faded into the ground and a stalk, adorned with dainty and exquisite orchid flowers, marks the spot.
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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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Thanks to Sheryl White for compiling the Blue Wall Weekly calendar,
and to all JLT GUIDES for photos and continuous inspiration!
Phone: 864-280-5501
Jocassee Lake Tours Depart from the Main Dock at Devils Fork State Park
PLEASE CALL 864-280-5501 AT LEAST 24 HOURS IN ADVANCE TO RESERVE YOUR SEATS!
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Enjoy this Lake Jocassee peaceful hideaway.
CAMP GLAMP!
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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) Visit Oconee Convention and Visitors Bureau
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Your Portal to Paradise!
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Lake Jocassee
&
Lake Keowee
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