Normally Sliding Rock, Brevard, North Carolina, would be full of activity, but this is not the way it is in the winter. Swimmers or “sliders” climb to the top of this slick rock located deep within the Pisgah National Forest and fly along its surface for a splash landing in the spring fed pool below.

Cocoa remembered earlier visits to the park and wanted to give it a try, but I told her, “No swimming this time of the year.”