Pisgah National Forest surrounds Asheville on the south and west and provides much of the city's outdoor playground. It covers more than half a million acres of southern Appalachian hardwood forest, with waterfalls, mountain summits, and several wilderness areas. The Cradle of Forestry, near Brevard, marks the spot where American forest science effectively began on the Vanderbilt estate in the 1890s.
For visitors with a day to spare, the loop south from Asheville via the parkway, Sliding Rock, Looking Glass Falls, and Brevard takes in a string of classic stops. Mountain bikers head for the Pisgah Ranger District's trail network, climbers for Looking Glass Rock, and trout fishers for the cold streams below the waterfalls.