The park is adjacent to part of the Pisgah National Forest and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's Toxaway Game Land.

Gorges State Park provides the principal access to the Horsepasture River on these adjoining public lands.

Record amounts of water gushed southward down the Toxaway River, destroying the communities in its path, scouring the gorges and leaving piles of debris 15 to 20 feet (6.1 m) high.

The corporation purchased the land for its steep topography and high rainfall, which offered opportunities for development of hydropower projects.

In the late 1990s, Duke Energy decided that it no longer needed large portions of the Gorges for future hydropower and offered the land for sale to natural resources agencies in North and South Carolina.

[2] Gorges State Park is open for year-round recreation, including, camping, hiking, mountain biking, and fishing.

It was a hike-in campground with six primitive campsites, each with a picnic table, fire ring and lantern hook, and it was a 0.75-mile (1.21 km) hike from the Rainbow Falls Trail-head.

Dispersed camping is also permitted in the adjoining Pisgah National Forest, and backpackers may register and leave their vehicles in the park.

[7] Gorges State Park is home to a wide variety of habitats due to its differing geologic formations, elevation, and climate.

Scientists are unsure of how these plants, including Pringle's aquatic moss and Carolina star-moss, have come to grow in the Appalachian Mountains far from their usual homes.