Gorges State Park

Simply beautiful.
Even on a rainy and super foggy (cloudy?) day, we thoroughly enjoyed the park. We started with the Bearwallow overlook and the falls. At the overlook, well we didn’t see too much, but on the falls trail, it was truly beautiful. Both are short hikes and have some incline, but the falls trail had benches along the way (incase you need them on the way back up). The trails were clear and wider than I expected, so no need to walk one behind the other.
We finished with the Rainbow Falls trail, which although is considered strenuous like the Bearwallow trail, I feel like this makes Bearwallow more moderate/​easy. The trail takes you into Pisgah after about 1.75 miles in, and there are plenty of steep inclines and even steps put into the trail to help you out. Granted, I’m not an avid hiker but this seemed like a lot more than 3 miles out. However, there were so many great side trails and views of the river and falls, it was truly beautiful. You know you’ve reached the falls when you come upon a Niagara-​like spray platform, and there is even a lower platform to get closer to it. We were told that if you continue on there are one or two beautiful falls behind it, but we ate our lunch a tenth of a mile up the trail and then headed back.
There are camp sites available (off the rainbow falls trail), and I definitely recommend checking out the park office. A small gift shop (some camping/​hiking items, toys, books) and a beautiful water feature, but also a small museum-​like area that describes some of the parks conservation efforts and a few kids activities.
There are actual restroom facilities near the Bearwallow trails (and its picnic area) but at the Rainbow falls stop there were only port-​a-​potties.