Mount Mitchell

Mount Mitchell is the uppermost mountain of the Appalachian Mountains and it is the highest mountain on the mainland of eastern North America, with the height of 6,684 feet (2,037 meters). It is situated close to Burnsville in the Yancey County in North Carolina in the Black Mountain, which is the sub-range of the Appalachian Mountains. Mount Mitchell is located about 51 km (32 miles) in the northeastern side of the Asheville City in North Carolina. The mount is bordered by the Pisgah National Forest and it is protected by the Mount Mitchell State Park.

In spite of the modest height, Mount Mitchell is the highest peak in the United States in the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, and the highest among all of the eastern side of North America southern side of the Arctic Cordillera. The adjacent higher peaks include the highland foothills of Colorado and the Black Hills of South Dakota. The mount is one among the two ultra-famous peaks of the Appalachian Mountains, the other peak being the Mount Washington. The rocks on the peak were created during the Precambrian when sea deposits were changed into schist and gneiss. Later, these meta-residual rocks were uplifted during the geographical mountain-forming incidents, the Alleghenian orogeny.

History

Mount Mitchell was named after a professor at the North Carolina University, Elisha Mitchell, who found out its height during 1835, and fell to his demise near the Mitchell Falls during 1857, having come back to confirm his previous measurements. Currently, the climbing of Mount Mitchell is rather uncomplicated, as a road of 7.4 km (4.6 miles) length of the historic and picturesque Blue Ridge Parkway runs near, and 980-foot (300-meter) track shows the way through a coniferous forest to the peak. The 40-foot (12 meters) stone surveillance tower on the peak was torn down during the late 2006. A fresh surveillance deck was built and opened to sightseers during January 2009. The peak also includes the tomb of Dr. Elisha Mitchell.

Climate

The summit region of Mount Mitchell is distinct by a moist continental type of weather, with gentle summers and extended, fairly cold winters, being more analogous to that of the southeastern parts of Canada than the southeastern parts of the United States. Unlike the lower heights in the nearby areas, heavy snows frequently fall with 127 cm (50 inches) from December to March, collecting in the 1993 Great Blizzard. Snow flurries are common on the peak even during the summer months. As a result of the high altitude, the mount receives an average heavy and consistent rainfall of 1,900 mm (74.7 inches) throughout the year. The peak is frequently windy, with gusts, which can blow at a speed of 286 km/h (178 mph).

Setting

While the Mount Mitchell is still typically lush and green during the summer season, several lifeless Fraser fir trunks can be seen, owing to these grave problems. Fixing the dent is a difficult problem because the contaminants are regularly carried in from stretched distances. Resources can be local or hundreds of kilometers or miles away, involving collaboration from as remote away as the Midwest. An abundance of wildflowers can be seen on the peak throughout the summer season. Young spruce and fir trees perform well during the subalpine type of weather, and their pine fruits are the favorite food for birds, together with wild blackberry and blueberry shrubs.