About this spot
Sidepocket Falls sits on the Horsepasture River in Gorges State Park, downstream of Stairway Falls, between Rainbow and Windy Falls. There's no maintained trail — the roughly 3-mile round trip follows an old forest road off the Rainbow Falls trailhead (NC-281) before a steep, ribbon-marked bushwhack drops about 300 feet to the river. The falls split into three tiers, a lower slide, a cascade, and a split upper drop totaling near 50 feet, feeding a pool multiple hiking guides call one of the river's best summer swimming holes. Wet rock and fast current make the approach hazardous — a single slip can put you in the flow — so go only in low water and wear real footwear. Free and open, but remote enough that cell service and rescue access are both poor.