Today's bicycling adventure took me east to the Georgia/South Carolina border at Lake Hartwell. I attached the hitch to the Z4, loaded up the bicycle, and hit the road on my way to the Big Oaks Recreation Area on the Georgia side of the lake. Big Oaks is about 50 miles from my home in Athens and would serve as my start/finish line.

The Big Oaks Recreation Area sits on the Georgia side of the Georgia/South Carolina border near the Hartwell Dam. Contained therein are picnic facilities, walking trails, and a public boat ramp.

Public boat ramp at the Big Oaks Recreation Center at Lake Hartwell.

Boat ramp facilities at the Big Oaks Recreation Area.

I've visited this place before, but never with my bicycle. As usual, I stopped to take a few pics before heading out. The photo above looks out over Lake Hartwell to one of its many small islands.

I made my way through the parking area toward US Route 29.

Looking back at Lake Hartwell from the Big Oaks Recreation Area entrance.

My plan for today was to take a long ride into South Carolina by making a giant loop starting at Big Oaks. Once across the border on US Route 29, I planned to turn right onto South Carolina Route 187, and right again a few miles later onto South Carolina Route 181 before crossing back over the border and returning to Big Oaks. But before heading out onto US Route 29, I detoured onto the walking trail that leads to the Hartwell Dam.

This is a paved and level trail that crosses over the top of the dam.

I passed another access road that comes from US Route 29. I incorrectly thought that this would be a good way to get to Route 29 after checking out the Hartwell Dam. There is a large gate out of view to the right in the photo above that was locked. No big deal.

I continued on the trail until I reached the Hartwell Dam.

Once again, I pointed the camera and started shooting. The photo above shows another of the many small islands within Lake Hartwell.

Another small island within Lake Hartwell.

The photo above looks back at US Route 29, (the road on which I traveled to get here, and the road on which I will be traveling in a few minutes).

With sunny skies and temperatures in the 90s, there was a lot activity on the lake today.

The photo above looks at the northern side of the dam, (i.e. Lake Hartwell). Also visible in the photo is the fence that prevents people from crossing the dam.

The photo above shows the southern side of the dam, (i.e. the Savannah River).

Looking at the Savannah River south of the Hartwell Dam.

The bridge in the photo above is US Route 29, where I will be heading once I leave here.

The Georgia side of the Hartwell Dam.

From the Hartwell Dam, I had to backtrack to the Big Oaks Recreation Area, (thanks to the previously mentioned closed access road I encountered on the paved trail), to get to Route 29.

I pointed the camera and held the button down as I crossed the bridge into South Carolina. The photo above looks south at the Savannah River.

Another small island in the Savannah River south of the Hartwell Dam.

Zooming in on the small island below the Hartwell Dam.

I turned the other way and held the camera button down again hoping to get a few good pics of the Hartwell Dam.

Hartwell Dam.

Zooming in on Hartwell Dam.

Once across the bridge, I had arrived in South Carolina.

After coasting down the long hill on the Georgia side to the bridge, I now had to pedal up the long hill on the South Carolina side from the bridge. The welcome sign gave me a good excuse to stop for a breather.

The South Carolina side of the lake features several overlooks and access points in this area. The overlook in the photo above is the second access point once across the border. I pulled in to see what I could see.

Zooming in on a couple of small islands in Lake Hartwell.

This looked interesting.

My guess is that there were people riding on the raft at one point.

There may be people hanging onto the raft somewhere, I can't tell. I'm not even sure if the people in the boat know at this point.

Just as was the case on the Georgia side, the South Carolina side of Hartwell Dam also features a paved trail.

I made my way down the trail toward the dam snapping pics along the way.

Zooming on a nearby shore.

Zooming in on a nearby shore.

Zooming in on one of the many small Lake Hartwell islands.

I headed back onto Route 29 and soon arrived at another access point. I've never been to the Singing Pines Recreation Area before and headed inside to check the place out.

Singing Pines is a 42 acre recreation area that is basically Big Oaks on steroids. This is a large facility that has picnic shelters, playgrounds, fishing piers, and swimming/beach areas.

There is a per-car entrance fee. But since I was on a bicycle on one of the hottest days of the season so far, the gate attendant thought I was insane and let me in at no charge to check the place out.

Even though the pictures above and below don't give the impression of a crowd, there were a lot of people here today.

I believe Singing Pines has something like 57 picnic sites plus two large "picnic shelters" that have electricity and running water.

I made my way to one of the beach areas.

One of the beach areas at Singing Pines.

One of the beach areas at Singing Pines.

One of the beach areas at Singing Pines.