North Carolina state parks and forests offer great places to cool off from summer’s heat. Here are three destinations.

• Sliding Rock Recreation Area’s 60-foot natural rock water slide ends in an 8-foot deep pool. Located in beautiful Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, this attraction is staffed in the summer. Bathrooms are open Memorial Day through mid-August. bit.ly/sliding_rock
• Jones Lake State Park in Elizabethtown has a sandy swim beach on a bay lake. Parents, especially, appreciate its shallow water, around 4.5 feet deep. There’s also a bathhouse, concession stand and hiking trails. A visitor center and exhibit hall explains bay lake ecology. 910-588-4550 or ncparks.gov/jones-lake-state-park.
• Morrow Mountain State Park, located near Albemarle, has a large swimming pool and a children’s pool, along with a handsome stone bathhouse built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Projects Administration. You can also explore a homestead of a 19th-century doctor at the park. His house is open summertime on Sundays from 2 to 3 p.m. 704-982-4402 or ncparks.gov/morrow-mountain-state-park.