Mount Mitchell has a simple claim to fame: at 2,037 metres, or 6,684 feet, it is the highest point in the United States east of the Mississippi River. It stands in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina, part of the southern Appalachians, and a spur road climbs to the summit from the Blue Ridge Parkway at around milepost 355. The last stretch of the road ends at a car park a short walk below the summit, where an observation platform gives views across rows of blue ridges.
The mountain is named for Elisha Mitchell, a professor from the University of North Carolina who measured the peak in the 1830s and argued about its height with a rival. In 1857 he fell from a cliff near a waterfall while returning to confirm his measurements, and was buried at the summit, where his grave still lies. The area became North Carolina's first state park in 1915, after logging companies had stripped much of the forest, a loss that prompted early conservation efforts in the state.
The high slopes hold a forest more typical of Canada. Red spruce and Fraser fir grow here, cool and dark, and the air smells of resin on damp mornings. Sadly, many of the Fraser firs have been killed by an invasive insect, the balsam woolly adelgid, leaving grey skeletons among the green. Clouds often wrap the summit, and temperatures at the top can be 10 degrees Celsius lower than in the valley. Snow can fall in any month except high summer.
The Blue Ridge Parkway is a famous motorbike road, with a low speed limit, long gentle bends and constant views, and the climb up the spur to the summit is a short, steep detour. Sections of the parkway and the spur road close in winter, with ice and fog, so check the status before setting out. Autumn colours in October draw crowds. Black Mountain, seventeen kilometres away, and Burnsville have petrol stations and places to eat. Pack a warm layer, even in July.