Oconee Bell

Devils Fork State Park is a stunning state park located in South Carolina, near the town of Salem. Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it is renowned for its pristine natural beauty and access to the crystal-clear Lake Jocassee.  The park sits in the northwestern corner of South Carolina and is an undeveloped 7,500-acre reservoir tucked deep into the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was leased in 1991 by the State of South Carolina from the Duke Power Company and it currently provides the only public access to Lake Jocassee.  The park has several trails that are suitable for all levels of hiking.  It also offers tent and RV camping with lakefront sites.

This short and easy hike in Devils Fork State Park gets its name from a rare wild flower, the Oconee Bell, that has attractive white blooms. The trail begins just down from the visitor’s center at the back of the boat parking area and loops through a hardwood forest that has numerous oaks and hickory trees towering above in the canopy. The trail is well maintained and has interpretive signs and benches as it crisscrosses a small creek on the lower sections of the trail. As you start your climb back to the ridgeline, you will pass a small pond on the right about halfway along the path. The trail is heavily wooded in the summer months, and the pond may come as a surprise, albeit a brief one, before you make the final ascent back to the parking area.