Make stops at Looking Glass Falls, a popular, roadside waterfall; Pisgah Inn, a National Park Service concessionaire-managed lodge with a restaurant, gift shop, and lookout (open seasonally); and the Cradle of Forestry in America, a heritage site with educational programming (also open seasonally).

Another activity-filled national forest abuts the plateau to the northeast, offering even more opportunities for day hikes and waterfalls. Make stops at Looking Glass Falls, a popular, roadside waterfall; Pisgah Inn, a National Park Service concessionaire-managed lodge with a restaurant, gift shop, and lookout (open seasonally); and the Cradle of Forestry in America, a heritage site with educational programming (also open seasonally).

Hike in the 500,000-acre national forest which doubled as a filming location for the Hunger Games films.

Located just a few minutes from Pisgah Forest and Brevard, this is a beautiful hike through dense tunnels of rhododendron. It's also one of the best marked routes near town, making it hard to get lost.

The Laurel Mountain Trail runs through a remote section of the Pisgah National Forest that is far enough off the beaten path that seemingly few mountain bikers make the effort to ride it. Their loss is your gain! Consider yourself informed that Laurel Mountain is one of the very best mountain bike rides in Pisgah, if you can handle brutal climbs and an endless sea of boulders during a double black diamond descent.

This segment of the Mountains to Sea Trail (MST) traverses from the Iconic Pisgah Inn to Mt. Mitchell State Park. A 3-mile round trip detour to Mt. Pisgah will reward you with stunning views of the Blue Ridge Mountains from a developed observation deck. Similar to Mt. Pisgah, a spur to the summit of Mt. Mitchell will take you to the highest point east of the Mississippi River, just shy of 6,700'.