Lake Jocassee in South Carolina

Trip Overview

We put in Monday afternoon at Devil's Fork State Park headed toward the primitive campground across the lake at Double Spring Mountain. Devil's Fork is a nice park with a ranger station, boat and canoe landings, and camping and cabin facilities.

Nice paddling on the flat lake. Jocassee is very deep and can be a bit intimidating for novice paddlers crossing the channel, but the water and surrounding mountains are quite pristine.

We camped at Double Spring Mountain for a couple days taking day trips along the shoreline exploring the mountains and the water. There are several waterfalls that feed the lake and each one is very beautiful. The primitive camping has no water, pit toilets, and developed tent pads--that's it. Pack it in, pack it out--no trace camping. We even canoed in our firewood from Devils Fork.

If you can make it to Toxaway River, there is another primitive campground up there is access to the Foothills trail that traverse through the gorges.

Jocassee is an awesome place to canoe and camp...few motorboats and even less development.

Accommodations:

Primitive camping, drive-in camping, cabins.

Outfitting:

Old Town Penobscott 16--tandem. mid weight camping gear.

Fees:

Small fee. Check in a the ranger station.

Directions:

SC11 Foothills Parkway West toward Pickens, SC.

Resources:

Lake Jocassee Lake topo map. Published by Kingfisher Maps, Inc. Available locally.