At 6,684 feet, Mount Mitchell is the highest summit in the eastern United States. The peak is reached by a paved spur off the Blue Ridge Parkway, with a short paved trail from the parking lot to a stone observation tower at the top. On clear days the view stretches across the Black Mountains, the Pisgah National Forest, and out to Tennessee.
The state park around the summit holds spruce-fir forest more typical of southern Canada than the Carolinas; temperatures at the top can be 20°F cooler than Marion below. A 45-minute drive from the town centre.