Waterfalls of Lake Jocassee Kayak Tour (Oconee County, South Carolina)

While living near Lake Tahoe, I bought a kayak and used in many times there and on other nearby lakes. However, I didn't think that kayaking destinations would be as readily available once I moved to Georgia and ended up selling my boat to a friend. As it turns out, kayaking is an even more popular sport here than in my former home. The many rivers and man-made lakes of the area offer a plethora of interesting waterways to explore. 

Since I'm considering getting back into the sport and purchasing another boat, I decided the prudent move would be to get a little exposure before spending all of that money, just to be sure I really wanted to involve myself in it again. To that end, I have signed up for a few excursions with REI over the next couple of months. Today, I'll be paddling on Lake Jocassee in the northwestern corner of South Carolina to explore some of the lake's waterfalls.

After getting checked with the rangers at Devils Fork State Park, I quickly locate my group and begin prepping my gear. Once the other participants arrive, our guides cover several discussion points including safety protocols for the pandemic, boat adjustments, and the day's agenda. It takes about an hour to get through all of the material and get ourselves and our boats ready to hit the water. Entering my borrowed boat, I opt for a method demonstrated by one of the guides that allows me to insert myself in the kayak from a landing without getting myself too wet. It takes a minute to get my stability, but the method worked pretty well. It takes a few minutes for all of us to get situated and on the water, but soon we're paddling our way around the shoreline of the lake.

I had forgotten just how fast these slim boats can be on flat water. Though, we go at a pretty leisurely pace most of the time, I'm able to get short bursts of speed as the eight members of our tour group sort of leap frog back and then ahead of each other as we work our way from one point to the next. For the most part, we stay within 100 or so yards of shore. The occasional waves add a little bit of excitement as there is always the possibility of tipping the boat and going for a swim in these cold waters. Luckily, the weather is cooperating nicely and though it isn't exactly warm, the combination of cool air and near constant activity, keeps us all pretty toasty.

*Photo courtesy of one of the other participants

Continuing around the lake, we reach an "island" that will probably not exist too much longer. This lake, like so many in the area, is the result of damming a confluence of four rivers back in the 1970's. Much of the topology of the area was drastically impacted by the rising waters. As I understand it from our guides, this island is often a peninsula, depending on water levels, but was obviously once just a high point of land above the river. Today, it offers and interesting place to take a short break. The waters around the earthen island or very clear and it's easy to estimate the depth. A few lonely trees remain on the island, but I suspect that once these trees see their final days and their root systems begin to decay, the island will crumble into the surrounding waters. 

Time to move. We begin our push towards the first of the waterfalls that we plan to visit. Our guides have led this trip many times and have a pretty good idea of what we can accomplish during our set duration based upon when we reach certain points along the trek. Unfortunately, we are moving pretty slow. One of the members, who had never been in a kayak before, is struggling a bit and slowing us down. That's fine though, this adventure is planned with beginners in mind. Given our time, we set a bearing for Bad Creek Falls and reach it a short time later. 

Being in a human-propelled craft like a kayak allows us to paddle right up to the tall waterfall. It's a pretty cool experience. It's set back in a little cove with bushes and trees covering the shoreline on either side. As we take turns paddling up to the spot the falling water hits the lake, the rest of us just pause in and around the little cove. Without doing any paddling though, the currents push us back into the bushes and I find myself having to occasionally maneuver may way out. Totally worth it though. 

After a while we had for a sister waterfall on the other side of the cove. This one is much less impressive, but still interesting. Again we take turns approaching the waterfall until everyone that wants to has had the opportunity. Shortly afterwards, we turn to head back the way we came. Somehow, I end up a little further out form the shoreline than my companions and take the opportunity to cut loose a little bit and really test the speed of this boat. It's a lot of fun.

As we pull back into the dock and de-boat ourselves, I think back on the day's adventure and I'm already pretty convinced that I want to buy another kayak and get back into the sport. While I didn't track our distance, though I meant to and simply forgot, I would estimate that we paddled approximately five miles along the shoreline of this beautiful lake. Perhaps, I'll return here again someday and find the other waterfalls our guides mentioned.