Weekend Warriors

This weekend was another grand adventure.
My husband and I really have a lot of fun doing simple activities...
such as camping, kayaking and hiking.
This past weekend we did a "controlled" tent camping experiment-
which worked out very nicely btw :-)
On Sunday we loaded up the trusty kayak and headed to Keowee River.


WOW! Look at that water level! It is almost at full level now.
Last years extreme drought had really taken its toll on this body of water - we walked (and treasure hunted) on land that you can't even see right now.
We packed our lunch, plenty of energy snacks and some adult beverages for the trip.

I adore nature - especially the river and the forest. So many inspirational images to be seen...so many beautiful things if you just take the time to look around you.
The mushrooms were about an inch or so tall. Hiding on the side of a fallen tree trunk.



And this is a close up of vegetation growing on a rock in a little stream. You can't see the water in this shot but it was cascading all around the rocks. There were several levels of small waterfalls that fed into the river from a hidden channel. If you click on the photo, you can see the texture in the leaves.

I love this mushroom! It was about 3" tall with the most awesome areas of texture on it.

Now this is where the trip got REALLY interesting...
Notice the large "Danger" sign.
Yeah. Large.
Hanging overhead...

Right next to these three other Warning signs.
Rather large signs, huh?
Quite visible to people , say, in a kayak...

paddlin' right under them...

Yeah, the signs?

This is what they looked like as we went

RIGHT PAST THEM!

Oh, and one more REALLY big "Danger Will Robinson" sign on the shore...you know, just in case you missed the four previous overhead signs...

Aha! This would be the reason for all the signs just Screaming "Danger"

or "Turn Back (yeah this means YOU!)".

Hmmm...This would be the gates at the Keowee Dam I'm guessing. The Keowee River flows out of Lake Jocassee Dam and into Lake Keowee, a reservoir created by Keowee Dam and Little River Dam. The Keowee River flows out of Keowee Dam to join the Twelve Mile River.

I think that the water is used to cool the reactors at the Oconee Reactor Station.

And so on and so forth.

'Nuff of the history lesson.

Let's just say that no water was released while we were floating past the "Do Not Enter" signs...

And a good time was had by all.