Gorges State Park

Gorges gets somewhere near ninety inches of rain a year, and the landscape shows it. Rivers drop more than a thousand feet in a handful of miles through steep-sided gorges, the forest is dense and dripping, and the rare plant list is long enough that botanists make the trip specially. Rainbow Falls, reached by a trail that starts in the park and continues onto adjoining land, is among the most impressive waterfalls in the state. The terrain is genuinely rugged and the trails reflect it, with sustained climbs and slick rock near the water. Whitewater paddlers know this corner of the Blue Ridge Escarpment well.