View from atop Mount Mitchell.
HIKING: To enjoy the diverse flora and fauna in the forests on the summit, take a walk on the loftiest North Carolina hiking trails. Even a short walk can be very rewarding. Our two favorite trails are relatively easy:
Balsam Trail: This easy, self-guided interpretive trail gives a glimpse at the effects of acid rain. This 3/4 mile loop trail begins near the observation tower. Go to the top of the observation tower, and as you head back to the parking lot, look for the Balsam Trail on the right. The trails ends at the parking lot. Pick up a guide at the park office or summit gift shop.
Deep Gap Trail: For great views of Mount Mitchell from Mount Craig (6,645 feet, the second highest peak in the eastern United States), take a two-mile roundtrip hike through a Canadian-like forest. Deep Gap Trail begins at the picnic area near the beginning of the summit parking area. You will descend Mitchell and climb to the peak of Craig. The hike includes a good bit of climbing, but it is not overly strenuous. If you want to go farther, Deep Gap Trail continues for another 3.5 miles and crosses three more peaks above 6,000 feet. There are some great camping sites at Deep Gap.
Mount Mitchell Trail: This long, strenuous hiking trail leads from the Black Mountain Campground to the summit. Most of the trail is on USFS property. Climbs 3,600' in 5.5 miles. It's steep and rough in sections, but there are spectacular views. You'll travel through a mixed hardwood forest at lower elevations, dense, old-growth spruce forests in upper elevations and almost pure stands of Fraser Fir at the top. An alternate trail to Higgins Bald adds 0.2 miles to the length. This path is shared with the Mountains to Sea Trail along its entire route.
DINING AND SHOPPING: Enjoy a relaxing meal in the restaurant, located a half mile from the entrance of the park. Open May through October, it has a casual menu and scenic views. A gift shop and concession stand are located at the summit.
PICNIC: Have a mile-high picnic. The shady picnic area, open year-round, is located at the north end of the summit parking lot. Forty picnic tables, stone grills and drinking water supply all the essentials. Two picnic shelters with fireplaces are perfect for group picnics.
CAMPING: The nine-site family campground is open throughout the year. Only tent camping is allowed. Each site is equipped with a grill and picnic table. Modern restrooms for use during warm seasons are located nearby. Showers and hot water are not provided. In the winter, campers have access to pit toilets, and no running water is available. Campsites are available on a first-come basis for a modest fee. Campers may leave vehicles in the park overnight to backpack into the Pisgah National Forest. Visitors who leave their vehicles in the park must register on the forms provided at the trailheads near the parking area or at the park office. Mount Mitchell offers a choice of trails from which to enjoy the nearby alpine woodlands.
PLANTLIFE: The forests have long been affected by a variety of natural factors, including wind, ice, snow, drought, and infrequent lightning-caused fires. But unrestrained logging, huge fires in the logging slash, and chestnut blight brought drastic changes to the forests throughout the Black Mountains in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These impacts were followed in the 1950s by the arrival of the balsam woolly adelgid, an insect pest native to central Europe. The adelgids infested and killed large numbers of the Fraser firs, permanently altering the forest ecology in the highest elevations of the Black Mountains. Air pollution and acid-laden precipitation are also contributing to the long term decline of Mount Mitchell's spruce-fir forests. In fact, on eight out of ten days, Mount Mitchell is covered in clouds and fog that are sometimes as acidic as vinegar. Faced with a combination of stresses, the forests of the Black Mountains have been irreparably altered.
In spite of the losses suffered over the last century, the flora of Mount Mitchell remains among the most distinctive and diverse in the Southern Appalachians. The park protects the most extensive assortment of rare plant and animal species in the state park system, and the spruce-fir forests, while greatly diminished, are still present. Red spruce, fire cherry, yellow birch, mountain ash, and mountain maple have filled gaps opened by the loss of Fraser fir, and other native plant species such as blueberry, mountain raspberry, red elder, and bush honeysuckle produce beautiful blossoms and lend fragrance to the air. Wildflowers, including ox-eye daisy, white snakeroot, purple-fringed orchid, St. John's wort and pink turtlehead color the landscape.
BIRDING: Bird watchers have recorded 91 species in the park. Birds more characteristic of New England and Canada — including winter wrens, slate-colored juncos, red crossbills and golden-crowned kinglets — nest at these high altitudes. Spring and summer bring the drumming of ruffed grouse. From the observation tower, visitors can often see peregrine falcons whipping past. Lucky visitors might also catch a glimpse of a northern flying squirrel or hear the call of the saw-whet owl. Also see our Asheville Birding Guide.
HOW TO GET THERE
The Blue Ridge Parkway is closed north of Asheville. So you will need to take I-40 East from Asheville to Exit 86. Follow U.S. 221 North about 10 miles to U.S. 70 West. Go about two miles to NC Highway 80 and go north to the Parkway. Drive south on the Parkway to the entrance of Mt. Mitchell State Park.
HOURS AND ADMISSION
- Park hours are November-February 8-6, March and October 8-7, April and September 8-8, and May-August 8-9. The park is closed on Christmas Day. During the winter months, call the park office (828-675-4611) to see which roads are open. Mt. Mitchell averages 100+ inches of snow each winter.
- Admission is free.
WEATHER
Bring a jacket since it's often 10-30 degrees cooler than Asheville. The weather on Mount Mitchell is very mild in the summer and very harsh in the winter, more like Maine or southeastern Canada than the southeastern U.S. The coldest temperature ever recorded in the state occurred there on January 21, 1985 when it fell to −34 °F. Unlike the lower elevations around Asheville, heavy snows often fall from December to March, with 50 inches accumulating in the Blizzard of 1993. Snow flurries have been reported on the summit even in the summer months of June, July, and August. The summit is often windy, with the record being 178 MPH. See the current weather near the top of Mt. Mitchell.
PARK MAP
Download PDF map of Mount Mitchell State Park.
HISTORY OF MT. MITCHELL
More than a billion years ago, the Black Mountains were formed. This mighty range of peaks once stood lofty and rugged. But over millions of years, wind, water and other forces wore down the pinnacles to their rounded, more subdued profile of today. Only the erosion-resistant igneous and metamorphic rocks allowed Mount Mitchell to retain its dramatic height of 6,684 feet.
Long before explorers left Europe in search of the New World, various Native American tribes inhabited the area surrounding the Black Mountains. In the mid-1700s, the tribes were joined by settlers primarily of Scotch-Irish and English origin. In 1787, French botanist Andre Michaux journeyed to the Black Mountains to seek the region's most valuable plants so the French government could cultivate them on their royal plantations. On his botanical excursions to the area, Michaux collected more than 2,500 specimens of trees, shrubs and other plants. About the same time that his French counterpart explored the area, Englishman John Fraser collected plants from the region to introduce to his native land. It was for this botanical explorer that the most abundant tree along the crest of the Black Mountains — the Fraser fir — was named.
In 1835, Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a science professor at the University of North Carolina, made an excursion to the area to measure the mountain elevations. At the time, Grandfather Mountain was assumed to be the highest point in the region, but previous trips to the area had persuaded Mitchell that the Black Mountains were higher. Through the use of barometric pressure readings and mathematical formulas, Mitchell figured the highest elevation of the range to be 6,476 feet, higher than that of Grandfather Mountain. Subsequent visits to the Black Mountains in 1838 and 1844 led Dr. Mitchell to calculate the height of the peak at 6,672 feet — amazingly, only a mere 12 feet in error of modern calculations.
In 1857, Dr. Mitchell returned to the Black Mountains to verify his measurements. While hiking across the mountain, he fell from a cliff above a 40-foot waterfall. Knocked unconscious by the fall, Dr. Mitchell drowned in the water below. In honor of his work, the highest peak in the Black Mountain range was given his name in 1858. Though originally buried in Asheville, Mitchell's body was reburied atop Mount Mitchell a year later.
Until the late 1800s, the Black Mountains remained largely in a wilderness state. The only apparent influence of man upon the environment was a reduced animal population caused by increased settlement and hunting. This lack of exploitation of natural resources was not to last, however. By the early 1900s, extensive logging operations had denuded much of the Black Mountain range. Logging activity had expanded rapidly by 1913 and citizens began to voice their alarm about the destruction of the forest. Foremost among them was Locke Craig, governor of North Carolina from 1913 to 1917.
In 1915, a bill was introduced in the state legislature establishing Mount Mitchell as the first state park. The legislation passed both houses quickly and on March 3, 1915, the North Carolina State Parks System came into being. In appreciation of Governor Craig's efforts, the second highest peak east of the Mississippi, with an elevation of 6,647 feet and also in North Carolina, was named Mount Craig.
For more information go to the Mount Mitchell Web site.
Dec. 2008 Update: The 
