Mount Mitchell, North Carolina fall foliage

Mount Mitchell rises to 6,684 feet in the Black Mountains, the highest point east of the Mississippi, and in 1915 it became North Carolina’s first state park. The summit is covered in Fraser fir and red spruce, which stay green, so the color here is on the slopes and ridges below, where the hardwoods turn well ahead of the valleys. A short paved path leads from the top of the road to the observation deck at the summit, near the grave of Elisha Mitchell, the professor who first measured the mountain’s height. From the summit area, the Deep Gap Trail follows the crest of the range north toward Mount Craig, the second-highest peak in the East.

From Asheville, the Blue Ridge Parkway climbs northeast along the Great Craggy Mountains to Craggy Gardens, where a short trail leads to the open summit of Craggy Pinnacle and views in every direction. The Parkway continues to the entrance of Mount Mitchell State Park, and from there NC 128 climbs about 4.5 miles along the Black Mountains to the summit area. Asheville’s own color comes weeks later, so in early October the drive can run from peak color on the ridges down to green in the city. Sections of the Parkway can close, so check its status before you go.