Asheville, North Carolina

Seven spots in Pisgah and the Nantahala — five waterfalls, two viewpoints, all off the Parkway, most forgotten.

The Blue Ridge Parkway pulls visitors into a narrow band of overlooks and leaves the rest of western North Carolina alone. That's where the real swimming culture lives — in the granite gorges on either side of the road, where rhododendron closes over the trail and the water runs cold out of the Appalachians all summer. You can be neck-deep at the base of a sixty-foot waterfall a thirty-minute drive from downtown Asheville, on a Saturday afternoon, with nobody else in the pool.

The catch is that Asheville itself has become a destination — which means the trailhead lots fill by 9 a.m. every weekend. This guide is about the spots you walk to, gear dry, after the crowds have turned around.