Lake Jocassee

He said there's plenty of other ridges.

Teresa and her husband had a boat-in campsite on Lake Jocassee in August of 2009, up in the far northwest corner of the state where the Blue Ridge comes down to the water.

Jocassee is a reservoir, deep and cold and clear, with no road access to most of its shoreline, and the back of it runs up into gorges where the Thompson and the Whitewater and the Horse Pasture Rivers come down off the mountains.

The state manages most of the land around it as the Jocassee Gorges, and it's as steep and empty as anything in the Carolinas.

Free to visit with parking and room for a picnic.

Devil's Fork State Park, Salem, South Carolina, the only public access to Lake Jocassee, where fall color from the surrounding gorge walls reflects off the water.

The one-point-five-mile Oconee Bell Nature Trail is an easy loop through hardwood forest.

Keowee-Toxaway State Park, Sunset, South Carolina, the gateway to the Jocassee Gorges, with the Raven Rock Loop Trail offering elevated views over Lake Keowee.