Lake Jocassee - Day 1

Today, my mom and I began a three-day vacation at Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. I discovered the lake on a previous excursion this spring when I kayaked across it to access the lower Thompson River. The lake was basically just a means to an end for that excursion, but I was surprised to discover it had clear blue water, and cooler water temperatures than most lakes in the Appalachian foothills. Aside from that, part of the allure of Lake Jocassee is that it has several waterfalls that spill directly into the lake. I had seen one of them (Wright’s Creek Falls) on my previous visit, but I was hoping to see the others, and possibly find some nice beaches and jumping spots. My mom is actually more into kayaking than I am, so I figured she would probably enjoy Lake Jocassee as well. We rented a villa (i.e., cabin) for two nights in Devil’s Fork State Park, which has the only public access to the lake.

This morning, we loaded the boats into the truck and drove the nearly four hours from Abingdon to Lake Jocassee. We arrived around 1 PM, but we were only allowed to check in between 4:00 and 5:00, so we decided to paddle to Sandstone Beach, which is the closest noteworthy point of interest to the park.

( Click here for the full Day 1 trip report with pictures and videos )

Day 2 of the trip is covered in my next entry.