Pickens County is blessed with the prettiest mountains and lakes in all of South Carolina.  The mountains in the northern part of the county, offer hiking, birding, hunting and 4-wheeling, whereas the lakes offer boating, fishing, scuba diving and swimming. 

Lake Jocassee is a hydro-electric lake surrounded by mountains.  When the lake was built in the early 1970's, they literally built the dam between two mountains. At this time, there is only a very small portion of lake frontage that is developed.

One unique note is that Lake Jocassee has two of the largest water falls dumping water into it.

Lake Keowee is a Nuclear Power lake, with three nuclear reactors on it.  This power station supplies electrical power to all of upper South Carolina, parts of North Carolina and Georgia.  When extra power is needed during peak times, Lake Jocassee dumps its water through its generators into Lake Keowee.  Then in the evening, the water is pumped back into Lake Jocassee.

Lake Hartwell is also a hydro-electric lake.  It is the largest of the three lakes, with half of its shoreline boarding Georgia.