Adventure Outdoors Magazine Spring 2018 | Page 124

LAKE HARTWELL
SOUTH CAROLINA
Life in Lake Hartwell Country is unique to the
eastern seaboard, and perhaps, the world.
Sure, we have a distinctly southern Ap-
palachian culture, culinary similarities
to our fellow southerners, and even
the fact that there are rivers and lakes
is no unique feature. But it is the
amount of water that makes us differ-
ent. Lake Hartwell Country is a region
of mountains and lakes, waterfalls,
creeks, rivers, hills and farms. And
when we say lakes, we mean lakes!
The big 3 obviously reign, with Lake
Hartwell, Lake Keowee and Lake Jo-
cassee literally covering the counties
of Anderson, Oconee and Pickens.
They are large lakes, but not the
largest in the world. What they are
varies, and sets us apart. Lake Hartwell
is one of the finest recreation and fish-
ing lakes (particularly bass) on the
planet. Lake Keowee has beautiful
water fed by innumerable streams,
creeks and tributaries, with the Blue
Ridge rising in the distance. Lake Jo-
cassee is a gem, an almost primeval
secret, pristine and extremely deep,
fed by four mountain rivers: Whitewa-
ter, Thompson, Horsepasture, and Tox-
away. It is surrounded by untouched
mountainside, adjacent to the Jo-
cassee Gorges, named one of “50 of
the World’s Last Great Places” by Na-
tional Geographic.
To call it a land of water is to sell it
short. It is a land of beautiful water,
everywhere. We have hundreds of
waterfalls. In addition to the Big 3,
there are lakes Cherokee, Cheohee,
Tugaloo, Yonah, Mountain Rest,
Becky, Chattooga and Crystal, to
name a few. The creeks and streams
are in the thousands, and there are
rivers too.