Jocassee Lake Tours and Shuttle Service

05/19/2026

Do you get the Blue Wall Weekly, the weekly email newsletter from Jocassee Lake Tours and Shuttle Service? It's a great newsletter with lots of helpful information not only on the lake itself but also for the nature events it includes that are happening during the week.

In this week's email newsletter, Kay Wade writes this with the photo included:

"Six decades have passed since Duke Power announced plans to build nuclear and hydroelectric facilities to generate electricity for Oconee and Pickens Counties. Two lakes were to be created by containing Keowee River behind dams. Surveyors traversed Jocassee Gorges, marking a clean line through the hills. Timber companies followed, and bulldozers. Soon enough a belt of cleared land 100’ wide outlined the perimeter of a future Lake Jocassee. Six decades later, tree stumps remain around the lake’s edge, hidden just below the full pool surface. When state-wide drought forces water levels to drop, these stumps emerge like old friends, a silent reminder of what this place once was."

05/14/2026

04/28/2026

WORLD’S OLDEST LOONS RETURN TO SENEY

On Saturday morning, April 25, a female loon on I Pool beheld a relatively frequent spring sight: two males battling, with beating wings and stabbings bills, for control of the breeding territory. The observer was Fe, who was first color-marked as an E Pool mother in 1990, and who will thus turn at least 40 this summer. The hostilities were brutal but brief, and after only a minute one of the combatants discerned that this was not his day, after which he shortly took flight for less perilous waters. With the challenger vanquished, Fe and the unbanded victor, who was likely but not certainly her mate from 2025, initiated a circling round of bill dipping and jerk diving, aspects of courtship involved in forming, or re-forming, a pair bond for the season.

Concurrently on nearby H Pool, Fe’s former partner of 25 years, ABJ, was engaged in scouting for potential nest sites with his current companion, Aye-Aye, with whom he bred unsuccessfully on H last year. Although ABJ, who will turn 39 this June, hatched a record 32 chicks with Fe, since their split in April 2022 he has failed to produce further offspring, and she remains the only mate with whom he has ever sired young. Along with the broader Seney loon population, which includes color-marked adults who are embarking upon their 24th, 27th and 33rd Refuge seasons, ABJ and Fe and their respective partners will spend the next few weeks engaged in territorial defense, habitat assessment, copulation and nest building ahead of 27-29 days of egg incubation that, with luck, will culminate in the emergence of one or two downy fluffballs in early-mid June.

Thanks to Dani Fegan for her extensive documentation of the migratory return of Seney loons.

Damon McCormick
Common Coast Research & Conservation

PHOTO: On April 25, Fe observes with alarmed but restrained interest as two male Common Loons battle to lay claim to Seney’s I Pool territory. Photos by Dani Fegan.

04/28/2026

Vote every day if you think JLT deserves the title of "10Best"!

Jocassee Lake Tours gets you out on and exploring South Carolina's beautiful Lake Jocassee, part of the stunning 43,000-acre Jocassee Gorges ecosystem — home to temperate rainforests, waterfalls, and over 60 species of rare plants. Lake tours bring you to waterfalls only reachable by boat, and the...

04/26/2026

South Carolina's Upcountry holds a special place in the hearts of those who protect natural places. Our prayers are with those working to save homes and businesses, and the residents in the path of these destructive fires.

We also have our Network members in our hearts (Upstate Forever, Naturaland Trust, Greenville Water, The Nature Conservancy South Carolina, Oconee County Conservation Bank). Land trust staff and our agency partners have spent thousands of hours on the ground in these rugged hills. If not for your work, thousands more houses would have likely been in this path.

Nature is resilient. These forests will return strong and healthy. And as a land trust community, we'll continue our relentless pursuit of protecting special places from development.

The South Carolina Forestry Commission
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
SC Office of Resilience
South Carolina State Parks

04/23/2026

There are people who show up… and then there are people who build something that brings others with them.

Brooks & Kay did exactly that.

What began with a love for Lake Jocassee became something so much more—Jocassee Lake Tours and Jocassee Wild. More than time on the water, they’ve created a way for people to connect with this wild, beautiful place… to learn it, respect it, and love it.

And behind it all? THIS INCREDIBLE CREW!

The guides. The storytellers. And the behind-the-scenes magic makers—the ones answering emails, organizing bookings, solving problems, and making sure every detail is in place before we ever leave the dock. The ones who show up early, stay late, and make every trip feel personal, meaningful, and unforgettable. This team is the heartbeat of it all.

Feeling really grateful for the vision that started it—and for the people who keep it alive every day. Grateful to be part of it all. 💚



Jocassee Wild Child Jocassee Wild Outdoor Education Friends Of Jocassee Visit Oconee SC - Oconee County, South Carolina Explore Pickens, SC Devils Fork State Park Upstate Forever The Nature Conservancy South Carolina Sierra Club of South Carolina

04/09/2026

Amid the war with Iran, the president has proposed to scale back some of the very programs meant to ease families’ financial burdens.

03/18/2026

Jocassee Wild Child Outdoor Learning Experiences are fun, engaging, and structured to support SC state educational standards.

02/15/2026

We are continuing to clear the Foothills Trail from damage done by the January ice storm. The ice storm was widespread and impacted the whole trail, mainly bringing down small & medium sized pine trees and branches. Along with impacting the Foothills Trail, the ice storm also severely impacted the backcountry access roads that we use to access the trail for maintenance. We're hoping the whole trail will be cleared from ice storm damage by mid-March.

To help make your hiking plans, below is a color-coded map of the Foothills Trail showing what's been done and what needs to be done. Please keep this information in mind as you plan your hike. We'll keep the map updated as we make progress. Thank you for your patience, and enjoy the trail with its new haircut.