The Blue Ridge Parkway reaches its highest point on this stretch, and the mountain at its heart is Mount Mitchell, at two thousand and thirty-seven metres, the highest summit east of the Mississippi River. A narrow spur road leaves the Parkway and climbs to a state park at the top, where a short path leads to an observation platform, and on a clear day the view runs over rank after rank of ridges, fading into blue. The summit is covered in dense spruce and fir forest of a kind more at home in Canada, a remnant of the ice age that survives on the highest peaks of the southern Appalachians, and the air smells of resin and damp.
The mountain is named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor from the University of North Carolina who measured its height in the 1830s and died in a fall near a waterfall on its flanks in 1857, which is a strange sort of fame. He is buried at the summit. The climate at the top is harsh, with cold fog, frost in most months and ice in winter, and the road is closed in bad weather.
For riders, the run along the Parkway to and from Mount Mitchell is superb. South of the junction, the road passes the open, grassy slopes of Craggy Gardens, where rhododendrons bloom in a purple wave in June, then drops through woods toward Asheville with long, easy curves and glimpses of the valley. The Parkway speed limit is low, but the pace suits the scenery, and traffic is light on weekdays. Surfaces are usually excellent, though cold patches and wet leaves are slippery, and fog can cut visibility to a few metres.
Burnsville, on the north side, is another option. The best seasons are late spring and early autumn, with colour peaking in October. Always check the Parkway status in winter, as closures are common.