Lake Hartwell-Drought

My parents have a place at Lake Hartwell. It has been in our family since 1964 when my granfather bought it. Since I was a baby I have gone to the lake. I have grown up there and I hope that one day my children will come to love the lake as I do. I have such great memories there with my family and now Kevin. This summer the lake, however, has been going through a drought. Every year after the 4th of July, they start to pull the lake and the water level drops. But this year, they starting pulling and the rain hasn't come since then. Friday, my parents and Kevin and I went down to the lake to see what it looked like. We couldn't belive our eyes! There were some parts where we were able to walk on the bottom of the lake, you know, it's normally covered in water. We could walk out to some islands even. The lake is 23 feet down so far. We are praying that God will send rain to that area. Not just for us to have water to float a boat and play, but for the animals sake and just in general. It looks so bad. Here are a few pictures from our trip yesterday:

I am standing in a camp ground swimming area. This pole is normally underwater and the water level is at least up to 11 feet deep. So I would normally be underwater.

This buoy is normally in the middle of the lake that Kevin and I are standing by.

These tree stumps are on a little island. They are normally underwater and you can't even see the tops of them.

This is how far down the water is.

My dad took this picture at the water's edge looking back at our dock. My mom, Kevin, and I are sitting on the dock. The dock is away from the edge of the bank. About 275 feet from the water's edge.