Sliding Rock

Sliding Rock was the 3rd and final waterfall on our 1.5 hour waterfall tour whilst in Asheville. (Check out our Asheville food adventures too!)

With each waterfall that we visited, we got a little more involved–for instance, looking at Looking Glass Falls, going behind the Moore Cove Falls on the Moore Cove Trail, and…well, read on!

Park Ranger: Are you planning to slide down the falls?
Us: ?! No, we’re completely unprepared for that and it’s pretty cold and wet outside.

Famous last words.

A video posted by Farrah @ fairyburger (@fairyburger) on May 19, 2016 at 3:51pm PDT

We honestly hadn’t been planning to, but as we parked, we ran into a few guys who had just come back and recommended that we definitely go, and that it was totally worth the freezing cold.

The videos they showed us and their enthusiasm were very compelling, so we figured why not?! You only live once, right? It also helped that they assured us that they’d found no debris at the bottom with which to be impaled.

Twas a good thing that we were actually leaving for Lewisburg that day, because it meant we had plenty of clothes to change into afterward. We were conveniently already dressed in workout clothes (which is what I’d live in if it were socially acceptable), so we figured we could just change into shorts and go in those + our sports bras.

We decided to go one at a time so that someone could document said adventures (or perhaps call for help). A lady at one of the observation areas offered to take my “before” picture.

Sliding Rock is a 60-foot flat sloping boulder that forms a natural waterslide that leads to an 8-foot pool at the bottom.

You can slide at your own risk pretty much anytime during daylight hours, but from around Memorial Day weekend to late August (10 a.m.-6 p.m.) and intermittent weekends from late August to mid-October, there are lifeguards present and the restrooms are open.

When staffed, admission is $2/person! (Kids 6 and under are free.)

Since the pool at the bottom of the falls is 8 feet deep, so you need to know how to swim! It probably gets really popular in the summer and on warm weekends, so if you want to come here, plan accordingly!

If you don’t feel like getting wet, there are a number of observation areas there.

This was probably one of the more spontaneous things I’ve done lately (although 4th year in its entirety may well be one of my most “spontaneous” years, as far as my type A-ish tendencies go). It was super fun, and I’m so glad we did it, even though the water was indeed soul-wrenchingly cold, and there was not a tendril of sunlight to be found anywhere that day.

…but what matters is that we survived (and had fun)! :]

Other things to note…

• Please exercise common sense and don’t bring alcohol or consume alcohol beforehand.
• Slide in the sitting position only.
• Water shoes are recommended–I went barefoot since I didn’t want to lose my flip flops and some of the rocks were pretty painful (but I thankfully didn’t cut up!).

• Would you slide down this rock/waterfall?!
• How long do you think you could stay in that water without freezing? I’d rather not find out!

Check out my other Travel Tuesday posts!