Jocassee Gorges area

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

izzyandsue

izzyandsue

Izzy
SILVER Star
10 Year
Joined
Oct 31, 2014
Threads
119
Messages
6,878
Location
Charlotte, NC
Website
www.tactegra.com
Going there tomorrow to explore, look, find out what's going on. Looks like the roads are very mild, but lots of waterfalls and trails. Will find out about camping near road, etc.
Bringing dogs, kids bailed out. Only decision is take the LC or the LR? Just put new Wrangler Duratracs AT on the LR, and it needs to get dirty. Wet dogs would be better on LC.... Tough decisions....

Will post info and pics here with map
 
Report?
 
We went out to Jocassee/Keowee area a few years ago with Marshall, Rick, and another Upstate guy. But we didn't explore the trails, he showed us the waterfalls and swimming holes on the weekend ONSC party pontoon boat!
 
Catching up here fans, jocasse needs further explore after 9/15 when they open the gates. But I did gather some Intel and mapped the road to Jumpin Off Rock. Also saw the camp sites, got an idea of potential. The road is simple, mostly gravel and plenty of room. Campsites are small, no more than 3 tents, and remote. Campsite 2 has a great view from the top of the mountain, campsite 3 is very secluded at the end of cool dirt trail. Campsite 4 was not on map, near jumping off rock, and much larger. Great views. We couldn't get to other places until gates opened.
We parked and hiked to one waterfall (tickle), lots of butterflies but no unicorns.

Will go back for sure, we only scratched the surface of this place.

Typical road view

image.webp
image.webp

Campsite on top
image.webp
image.webp


Handy dog unloading platform
image.webp
 
Jumping off rock view

image.webp


Trail to falls
image.webp
image.webp


Bear repellent system number 1
image.webp


The falls, we did get up on the rocks, dogs got wet and happy
image.webp
 
Walking trail to falls, pretty nice by put was too hot for dogs. I will go back, the area is too large to see in a day. The lake is huge, can rent kayaks, boats, etc at Devils Fork which we didn't even get to.

image.webp
 
I can't speak for the trails around Jocassee but I will say that the best way to see this place is by boat. My family usually goes one week a year and we stay at Devil's Fork State Park. We always rent a pontoon for a couple of days to see the sights. I can't seem to locate my most recent pictures but here are a few from a couple of years ago. There are literally hundreds of waterfalls. A couple of them are sizeable. All are beautiful. Most falls are accessible by boat and you can drive the bow of your boat right under a few of them for some cool refeshment. It is a deep lake (400'+) and one of the few places in NC or SC that you can get deep water dive certification. The water is crystal clear and quite cold. Great place and most folks have no idea about it. Let's just keep this our little secret, okay?

Jocassee 7-4-12 002.webp
Jocassee 7-4-12 013.webp
Jocassee 7-4-12 007.webp
Jocassee 7-4-12 008.webp
 
Last edited:
There are only 30 or so homes on the lake. Most are $1 million+. 99 percent of the shoreline is uninhabited. I think DPCO owns most of the land around it but not sure. One finger of the lake goes up into North Carolina. The State Park is really nice. The only public boat ramps are in /on the State Park property. No gas on the lake. That keeps boats to a minimum. This is one of those places you have to work a little harder for...but it's worth it! In comparison, Lake Keowee (which is the next lake down the chain) is very populated with homes. On a busy day you'll see a hundred boats an hour on Keowee. On a busy day a Jocassee, you might see ten all day long.
 
Last edited:
I go to this lake quite often. I troll for trout on the lake. Also take the family a half dozen times every summer. It's the only lake I like going to because as stated there is really only one landing and it's sparsely populated. You can only camp in designated spots and they fill up months in advance. If you have a boat there is boat in camping which I like doing as it's away from most people. Lots of Islands and sand bars to hang out on during the day. Water is crystal clear. There is a back side to the gorges. What you were on is a portion to the horsepasture trails. That's pretty much all gravel. Fun still. The back side of the gorges on the nc side is a little rougher. I've gone down those trails and camped on the whitewater river. Beautiful area. Not a ton of wheeling but some great scenery.

This is our normal hangout spot. Ironically it looks right at jumping off rock.

image.webp
 
Not sure yet, will need to plan it. Don't know if the road is still open, the park map shows a gate there. Not sure who to call to find out yet. Saturday is interesting, head out at early and hit the thing, go explore...

I was just reminded by the Administrator of the Household that classes start on 8/24, so Saturday could be difficult. Not impossible though
 
Last edited:
ONSC did a trip there back in 2010 with UC. Stayed in devils fork...... Great name, because I was hotter than Hades.....

toured the lake by boat and climbed some water falls. Besides trying to Sleep in that heat it was a great time.
 
Perfect timing. I had already planned on heading down to Jocassee Gorges this Saturday and driving down Horse Pasture, didn't realize it's closed.

I might have to go check out the Chestnut Mountain instead.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom