We spent an afternoon this week at Mt. Mitchell State Park, which is where one can escape the summer heat {OK so it was 87 degrees at the Inn, but don’t laugh, that’s hot for us} and head to cooler temps and the highest peak in the eastern United States.
Mt. Mitchell is only about five miles as the crow flies, but we humans need to drive and thus we took the scenic route up curvy Highway 80 in our lovely McDowell County to the Blue Ridge Parkway. This time of year along the Blue Ridge Parkway, you’ll see lots of wildflowers and motorcycles, a great combination! Off of the Parkway is Highway 128, which leads to Mt. Mitchell State Park, and you can then drive to the parking area close to the viewing platform. From there, it’s a short walk up to the platform.
From the Inn to Mt. Mitchell is approximately 60 minutes’ drive. And then you are rewarded with this:
And also this {in July}:
Mt. Mitchell has great trails, but we decided that the innpugs would be better off taking it easy on a sunny day, so we walked up to the viewing platform, pug water dish in hand, and spent some time just taking in the scenery, like the photos at the top of this post.
And seeing as he was the highest pug in the Eastern United States {along with Csaba chilling out in the shade}, Bugsy the Innpug felt it fitting to pose by the new benchmark disk for Mt. Mitchell, which was set in 2009 when the current viewing platform was built.
