MOUNT MITCHELL IS THE TALLEST MOUNTAIN IN THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS AND THE HIGHEST PEAK IN THE U.S. STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA WITH ELEVATION OF 2,037 M (6,684 FT) ABOVE SEA LEVEL. IT IS PROTECTED BY MOUNT MITCHELL STATE PARK AND SURROUNDED BY THE PISGAH NATIONAL FOREST.

The summit is the highest mountain in the mainland eastern United States (that is east of the Mississippi River), and the highest in the country south of the Arctic Cordillera.

The mountain was named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina, who first explored the region in 1835, and determined that the height of the mountain must be exceeding that of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, generally thought at the time to be the highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains.

Top Long Distance Hikes in North America.

The common trail to the summit runs along a 7.4 km (4.6 mile) road along the picturesque Blue Ridge Parkway to a parking lot where a steep 300 m (980 ft) route takes the climbers through the forest to the peak.

THE FIVE HIGHEST PEAKS IN NORTH CAROLINA:

Mount Mitchell - 2,037 m (6,684 ft), in the Appalachian Mountains, Yancey County, North Carolina, United States.
Clingmans Dome - 2,025 m (6,643 ft), in the Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina, United States.
Richland Balsam - 1,950 m (6,410 ft), in the Great Balsam Mountains, North Carolina, United States.
Waterrock Knob - 1,918 m (6,292 ft), in the Plott Balsam Mountains, North Carolina, United States.
Roan Mountain - 1,916 m (6,285 ft), in the Roan-Unaka Range of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, North Carolina, United States.