Lake Hartwell

[monsoon]

Last month in August I went on a short vacation to Lake Hartwell which is part of our built environment. This is a large artificial lake that strattles the SC/GA border and is comprised of the confluence of the Tuguloo and Seneca rivers behind the Lake Hartwell dam. The output of this dam becomes the Savannah River. This was the finest lake that I have ever boated on. It was clean, well marked with navigation and hazard markers, and almost pristine. We had a great time and was certainly a welcome change from the over developed lakes we have here near Charlotte.

Lake photos usually are not that interesting, and difficult to take because the boat is always moving but here are a few to give you an idea of what this lake is like.

We stayed at the SC Lake Hartwell State Park campground. This is a great secluded park and we stayed in this camper cabin of which there are only 2 of this type in the entire SC state park system. It is a new concept the state is trying out where you essentially get a nice cabin that only contains a bed electricity water and most importantly in August, air conditioning. It's like a permanent tent and you have to have your own camping equipment to cook, sleep, etc.

It's right on the lake so we decided to tie up the boat (which we drug down from Charlotte) in front of the cabin.

Heading out on the Tuguloo river we see the I-85 bridge. Georgia is on the left, SC on the right.

Georgia state welcome sign on the GA side of this bridge. I note the governer gets his name on the sign. I have to say that it looks better than

......the one on the SC side of the bridge.

Still in the river but headed south into the main lake. This river is larger than some lakes that I have boated in including even most of Lake Norman here in Charlotte. I am surprised at how undeveloped it is and I hope it stays that way.

Water skier followed us for a while. Unfortunately the poor fellow splashed out right after I took this photo.

The main lake is very very impressive. This is a very small portion of one of the several large islands in the middle of the lake. It is completely undeveloped and open for exploration.

This is headed north back up the Senaca river towards Clemson. The bridge is 85 again.

Pretty dog being driven around by his owner on a PWC.

Though I have been here before, had no idea this was on the water. No doubt many of you will recognize it. It looks to me like they did some major berm work in the last few years. Maybe there was flooding in the past?

Clemson Holiday Inn. We tried to use the public dock in Clemson to go and see the town, but the water levels were down alot and the cove where the town docks are located fell to less than 2 ft deep and we had to back off.

This is from the Clemson Marina across the river. Nice restaurant to have lunch there, but the marina gas, like all marina gas was expensive. Something like $3.59/gallon, but paddling isn't an option.

Parking lot at Clemson Marina. This is about 2 hours at cruising speed from where we departed and where we decided to turn around.

Another dog being taken for a ride on the Stingray.

Kids being hauled around on big float.

This was a desert island in the middle of the lake. It was odd that it had an American Flag. I am not sure if it was a monument or something.

Packing up to head back to Charlotte.

On the way back we took a detour to see Lake Jocassee. I have heard this is one of the most beautiful lakes in the Carolinas and it did live up to expectations. This is about as far west as you can get in SC and in the most mountainous part of the state. This is a Duke Energy lake and unfortunately Duke doesn't mark its lakes very well and even with a map we got lost a few times. Still it was quite worth it.

People cooling off at one of the various falls in this lake. It's hard to believe this is in SC as one doesn't normally associate the state with this kind of terrain.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

People cooling off at one of the various falls in this lake. It's hard to believe this is in SC as one doesn't normally associate the state with this kind of terrain.

I hope you enjoyed this brief tour.

Wow, yea, I would have never put that last picture in the SC catagory. Maybe in the East Tennessee, NC, or NE Alabama, but, SC just doesn't seem like somewhere that would have somethin like that. Pretty awesome.

[Jerseyman4]

Thanks for sharing the lake photos of the Upstate off I-85, they were very nice!

[krazeeboi]

Great pictures.

And our more impressive "Welcome to SC" signs tend to be on the interstates and other major highways.

[GvilleSC]

Great pictures.

And our more impressive "Welcome to SC" signs tend to be on the interstates and other major highways.

Hiding behind the bushes is the official "Welcome to South Carolina" sign with the "smiling faces, beautiful places" thing on it. Unfortunately it's on the first thing you see (and can't see it from the lake) and it's small in comparison to this sign...

[goodbye]

Great photo tour, Metro.m! The water is very low right now though. There are certain inlets that you have to use extra in order to avoid running over rocks. Funny people don't associate the cold mountain streams and falls with SC. I sometimes forget because I grew up with them.

[GRDadof3]

Great photo tour monsoon! A truly beautiful area, especially Lake Jocasee. The low water levels remind me of being on Lake Lanier while visiting Atlanta as a teenager, and the lake was so low there was about 40 feet of Georgian orange clay to traverse to get to the water. Yuck!

The camper cabins are a great idea!

[Spartan]

Looks like a fun trip metro... I heard that the dike at Clemson was reinforced/raised a couple of years ago because it was starting to leak. The Seneca River used to flow next to campus, and the river bed is still there (you can see the artificial oxbow lake on Yahoo Maps or Google earth). They didn't want to flood the stadium and campus when they were going to flood the rest of the lake, so they built thes two dikes to prevent that from happening. If those dikes ever break its going to be bad news for most of Clemson's campus.

[Greenville]

Looks like a fun trip metro... I heard that the dike at Clemson was reinforced/raised a couple of years ago because it was starting to leak. The Seneca River used to flow next to campus, and the river bed is still there (you can see the artificial oxbow lake on Yahoo Maps or Google earth). They didn't want to flood the stadium and campus when they were going to flood the rest of the lake, so they built thes two dikes to prevent that from happening. If those dikes ever break its going to be bad news for most of Clemson's campus.

Exactly. Most people don't realize that Death Valley (Clemson's football stadium) would be underwater if not for the dikes!

[erm1981]

I used to go running on those two dikes with a friend of mine at clemson. It makes for a good run. I like taking my jet ski to clemson beach or twin lakes. Glad you could come down and enjoy monsoon, looks like you had a good time. I love the area up around lake jocassee. That is a very pretty area. Me and my dad took the pontoon out to lake hartwell the other week and went fishing. We headed back into some low water portions where it averaged about 2 ft. We caught some nice catfish though, and a big mud turtle which we let back loose. Watch out though cause the water is very low now.

[interestedexpat]

Great photo tour. It brought back lots of memories as I grew up on that lake (but closer to Anderson than you got). Anyway - the big downside to the lake is the water level is often kept a little too low. 10 feet below pool is not uncommon. I can remember a few years where it seems stuck at 15 feet below full. I think they've been better about it in the last few years.

[krazeeboi]

Hiding behind the bushes is the official "Welcome to South Carolina" sign with the "smiling faces, beautiful places" thing on it. Unfortunately it's on the first thing you see (and can't see it from the lake) and it's small in comparison to this sign...

You're right; I noticed that today coming back from Atlanta. They should trim some of that foliage to make the sign more visible. You don't see it until you get right up on it.

[DigitalSky]

Nice looking lake. Very clean too! great tour

[dtown]

great pics. one of the nicest resivoirs ive seen.

[suburban george3]

Great photo tour. It brought back lots of memories as I grew up on that lake (but closer to Anderson than you got). Anyway - the big downside to the lake is the water level is often kept a little too low. 10 feet below pool is not uncommon. I can remember a few years where it seems stuck at 15 feet below full. I think they've been better about it in the last few years.