High and Dry
For anyone living on lakefront property, this is a scene straight out of their nightmares.
Upstate SC is in the midst of a record breaking drought. Nearby Atlanta was in the news this past Summer due to their water woes ---Lake Lanier, their main source of water, nearly running dry--- but Atlanta's been getting rain the past few months. Not so the area in which my parents live. Despite the two only being 90 miles apart the rain enjoyed by Metro Atlanta just hasn't visited Lake Hartwell.
The picture on the left is of the inlet that my parents live on. That's their dock straight ahead. I'm standing where the bridge to the dock is usually moored. Over the past 2 years, as the water receded, people moved their docks out from the normal lake bank to follow the water. As you can see, that's stopped since there is no water there at all.
This area normally hits depths of 30 plus feet of water. The lake is down over 22 feet and once the channel to the main lake went dry---around 2 months ago when the lake was down 20 feet from normal depth---the water that was left in the inlet gradually evaporated away. My parent's boat is resting on clay that would normally be under 25 feet of water. That's just freaky.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers's website Lake Hartwell is one of the southeast's largest and most popular public recreation lakes, and extends 49 miles up the Tugaloo River and 45 miles up the Seneca River at normal pool elevation. Normally Hartwell Lake comprises nearly 56,000 acres of water with a shoreline of 962 miles but not now. Now it just looks very sad. Colored red by the clay, it looks mortally wounded. And this just isn't good kayaking territory right now.
Upstate SC is in the midst of a record breaking drought. Nearby Atlanta was in the news this past Summer due to their water woes ---Lake Lanier, their main source of water, nearly running dry--- but Atlanta's been getting rain the past few months. Not so the area in which my parents live. Despite the two only being 90 miles apart the rain enjoyed by Metro Atlanta just hasn't visited Lake Hartwell.The picture on the left is of the inlet that my parents live on. That's their dock straight ahead. I'm standing where the bridge to the dock is usually moored. Over the past 2 years, as the water receded, people moved their docks out from the normal lake bank to follow the water. As you can see, that's stopped since there is no water there at all.
This area normally hits depths of 30 plus feet of water. The lake is down over 22 feet and once the channel to the main lake went dry---around 2 months ago when the lake was down 20 feet from normal depth---the water that was left in the inlet gradually evaporated away. My parent's boat is resting on clay that would normally be under 25 feet of water. That's just freaky.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers's website Lake Hartwell is one of the southeast's largest and most popular public recreation lakes, and extends 49 miles up the Tugaloo River and 45 miles up the Seneca River at normal pool elevation. Normally Hartwell Lake comprises nearly 56,000 acres of water with a shoreline of 962 miles but not now. Now it just looks very sad. Colored red by the clay, it looks mortally wounded. And this just isn't good kayaking territory right now.
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