Mount Mitchell is the highest point in the eastern United States, at 6,684 feet, and a short spur road from the parkway leads almost to the top. The mountain is named for Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina who measured the peak in the 1830s and died in a fall near the summit in 1857, while trying to prove his claim against a rival. He is buried at the top, under a stone tower, and the peak has been a state park since 1915, the oldest in North Carolina.
Arriving at the summit is a strange experience. The temperature is often twenty degrees cooler than in the valley, the air smells of spruce and fir, and the trees are stunted and twisted by the wind. These high forests are a remnant of the ice age, with plants and animals that belong more to Canada than to the Carolinas, and they are under threat. An insect from Europe, the balsam woolly adelgid, has killed many of the Fraser firs, and acid rain has added to the damage, leaving grey skeletons among the green.
For the rider, the road to the summit is Route 128, a short, steep, twisting climb off the parkway, with a modest speed limit and a few tight corners. The surface is generally good, but it can be wet or icy, and fog is common. There is a small restaurant at the top in summer, and a short paved trail leads to the observation platform, from which you can see layer after layer of blue ridges. The visitor centre has displays on the mountain's history and geology.
Black Mountain, about seventeen kilometres away, is the nearest sizeable town, with fuel and food, and Burnsville, a little further, is smaller. Plan to fill up before you go up the spur, and bring a warm layer and a waterproof, even in July. The summit often sits in cloud, and the views come and go with the weather, so a clear day is a gift.
The best time to visit is early on a weekday in autumn, when the lower slopes blaze and the crowds are thin. In winter the road closes when snow and ice build up, and in spring it opens when conditions allow. Check the park's website before you go, because the weather here can change the plan.