Pisgah National Forest Parks and Outdoors Travel Guide

Here lies one of the best-kept secrets in southern Appalachia—a shrewd alternative to the Great Smoky Mountains. True, the most popular national park in America lays claim to some ecological rarities, but for most of the park's ten million-plus visitors a fern is a fern and a skink is a skink. Instead of lining up to share the Smoky's clogged campgrounds, trails, and sights with half of the Eastern Seaboard, the cunning pitch their tents here in one of Pisgah's four ranger districts.
For many, perhaps the most appealing of the four is the 157,000-acre Pisgah Ranger District. Sandwiched by the exploration-worthy towns of Asheville, Brevard, and Waynesville, the Pisgah Ranger District features a cluster of handsome waterfalls as well as the untouched Shining Rock and Middle Prong wilderness areas. The Blue Ridge Parkway bisects the district, and it is a short and unduly popular 1.6-mile hike from the parkway to the antennae-crowned, wooded top of Mount Pisgah. The National Park Service runs the 137-site Mount Pisgah campground on the parkway, just opposite the Pisgah Inn.
The Grandfather District stars the 12-mile-long and intensely steep Linville Gorge. Here, the Linville River plummets 2,000 feet while Linville Mountain, and such rugged and beloved rock formations as Sitting Bear and the Chimney Rock, look on from high above. Camping in the gorge is strictly primitive, and so is the hiking. Bring a compass and topographical map—and know how to use them.
The awkwardly named Appalachian/Toecane Ranger District is beloved for its plentiful family camping areas. Families can picnic beneath the rhododendron at Roan Mountain Gardens and enjoy swimming and tubing spots along the South Toe River. There are also hiking trails to pretty Douglas Falls and to the crest of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak in the eastern United States.

Pisgah National Forest Overview

Located in the heart of North Carolina's Blue Ridge mountains, the Pisgah National Forest gives East Coasters plenty of reasons to stay put. As the Blue Ridge Parkway winds its way through the forest's hazy peaks, it passes Mount Mitchell, the highest summit east of the Mississippi River. Further south you'll find Craggy Gardens, one of the best places in the world to see rhododendron in bloom. In the Pisgah you can hike through virgin forest, mountain-bike over endless single-path tracks, paddle world-class whitewater rapis, fly-fish, and climb. There's even skiing, though the forest's southerly location means summer lasts a looooong time. Read More

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Pisgah National Forest Parks and Outdoors Travel Guide