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November 7, 2006
Mt. Mitchell State Park!
View from Mt. Mitchell State Park
On Saturday while in the Asheville area, I decided to head up to Mt. Mitchell State Park. Mt. Mitchell is the highest peak east of the Mississippi River, and I had never been there before. With glorious fall weather, and some time on my hands, it seemed like the right thing to do.
To reach Mt. Mitchell from Asheville, you hop on the Blue Ridge Parkway and drive north. The views from along the Parkway were spectacular, and many folks were out enjoying the day looking at the last of the fall foliage.
Sign at entrance to Mt Mitchell State Park
Once inside the park, I decided to take a short hike along the Balsam Nature Trail. The trail wound through a dense Fir forest, with the fragrance of Christmas Trees filling the air. There were also Mountain Ash trees with their glorious red berries set against a backdrop of a beautiful blue sky. Unfortunately, many of the Fraser Fir trees along the flanks of Mt. Mitchell are dying due to a combination of air pollution and an exotic insect known as the balsam woolly aphid. As a result, the situation atop Mt. Mitchell was chronicled in the book The Dying of the Trees by Charles Little.
The trail led me about .3 miles to where the trail to the summit of Mt. Mitchell was closed.
The summit was closed as they reconstruct an observation tower. Since I have still not been to the highest point east of the Mississippi, I'll have to return to Mt. Mitchell again. The next time I do so, I'll be sure to walk there on the Mountains to Sea Trail.
Great Places to Hike | By Jeffrey Hunter | 7:03 PM
