The City of Seneca borders the south end of Lake Keowee.

Vertical walls and deep ravines…..the Blue Ridge Escarpment
The Blue Ridge Escarpment, a treasure of mountain and river landscapes, reaches from Georgia to southern Virginia.  Throughout its 70-mile stretch across South Carolina, the mountains tower at elevations of more than 3,000 feet, reaching its zenith at 3,554-foot Sassafras Mountain, the state’s highest peak.  The Cherokee Indians who lived in the shadow of the mountains, grew to call this place they held sacred the “Blue Wall”.  Oconee County plunges deep into these mountains and has become renown for its crystal clean lakes and rivers.

Lakes
Tucked away in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Lake Keowee serves as the focal point of this foothills community.  The lake’s 18,500 acres of clear, mountain fed water and 300 miles of shoreline make it ideal for boating, fishing, water-skiing, swimming or just plain relaxing and soaking up the splendor of nature.  Duke Power Company’s subsidiary Crescent Resources has developed some of the popular neighborhoods along the Hwy. 130 and Hwy. 188 corridors.
 
Lake Jocassee is a 7,500-acre reservoir of cold, emerald-green water enclosed by the steep walls of the surrounding mountains.  The once free-flowing waters of Horsepasture and Toxaway Rivers now lie buried beneath the lake.  Accessible to the public by Devils Fork State Park, Lake Jocassee is a wonderland of outdoor recreation.  Anglers work Jocassee’s waters for trout and smallmouth bass.  Boating across the lake will take you to the Laurel Fork and Thompson River waterfalls.

Rivers
In 1974 Congress designated the Chattooga a National Wild and Scenic River.  The Chatooga’s turbulent waters and renowned whitewater rapids drew paddlers and rafters from around the country after the 1972 movie “Deliverance” was filmed in and around the river’s deep ravines.  Fed by rains that exceed 90 inches per year, the Chattooga gains momentum in North Carolina for 10 miles and is a full-fledged river by the time it becomes, at Ellicot’s Rock, the boundary of South Carolina and Georgia.  The river picks up pace below Earl’s Ford, which marks the beginning of Section 3, as boaters have dubbed the 17-mile stretch to the Highway 76 bridge.  Below Highway 76, Section 4 picks up the remaining seven-mile stretch to Lake Tugaloo.  The stretch of river is one of the country’s most challenging whitewater runs, known for it’s pristine wilderness and rapids such as Screaming Left, Seven-Foot Falls, Corkscrew, Jawbone, and Sockemdog.  For those who wish to experience these sections of the Chattooga in a professional, certified outifitter, please contact Wildwater.
 
Not as long or as large as the Chattooga, but equally pristine and rugged, the Chauga River flows freely for 20 miles before being swallowed up by Lake Hartwell.  Dropping 800 vertical feet in this span, the Chauga offers many tight turns and steep drops that many people consider to be just as challenging and technical as the lower sections of the Chattooga.