The smell is distinctive. Fresh. With a hint of mud. Welcome to the Mountain Run swimming hole. It's the kind of place Tom Hillegass has spent more than a decade looking for. He wades in.

Located in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the swimming hole is accessible with a relatively easy hike.

The swimming hole teems with children and sun-lulled parents, teenagers with braces and men with farmers’ tans and white-haired grandparents, all of them delivered here by the same longing.

The Joys of Country Swimming Holes The author recalls childhood memories and reflects on the pleasures of swimming in a farm pond in the summertime.

Outside Magazine ranks Midnight Hole in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as one of the best swimming holes in the U.S. Located in North Carolina, Midnight Hole is a 3-mile hike from the Big ...