Mount Mitchell State Park
The highest point east of the Mississippi, reached from the Parkway — but the campground is walk-in tents only.
- Yancey County, NC
- Nearest town: Burnsville
- 3,221 ft
Coordinates
- Lat
- 35.86015
- Lng
- -82.29779
No van camping
There is camping here, but only walk-in, backcountry or boat-in sites. You cannot sleep in a van at the trailhead.
At a glance
The basics
What to expect
State park
Reservable sites, paved or well-graded roads, bathhouses in season.
- County
- Yancey County
- State
- North Carolina
- Nearest town
- Burnsville
- Elevation
- 3,221 ft
- Max vehicle length
- Not verified
The place
About Mount Mitchell State Park
At 6,684 feet, Mount Mitchell is the roof of the eastern United States, and the summit is an odd, memorable place: a paved ramp to an observation platform, a boreal forest of Fraser fir that smells like Canada, and weather that bears no relation to the valleys thousands of feet below. Temperatures at the top routinely run twenty degrees cooler than Asheville, cloud swallows the view without warning, and rime ice forms on the firs well into spring. The Black Mountain crest trail runs north along the ridge over a series of only slightly lower summits. It is worth the drive up regardless of where you sleep.
For van drivers
Getting a van in and out
Important: the park's small campground is walk-in tent camping, not a place to park a van overnight. Treat Mount Mitchell as a spectacular day trip and sleep lower down — Black Mountain Campground sits at the foot of the trail, and the Parkway campgrounds are within reach. Getting up here means the Parkway to the NC 128 spur, which is steep, and then a long descent on the way out; use a low gear rather than riding the brakes. The summit road closes for ice frequently, sometimes when the weather in Asheville looks fine.
Written for a high-roof van, not a pickup. Surfaces and clearances change with the weather and with the season’s roadwork — the official page below is the last word.
On the ground
Facilities & fees
Not verified means nobody has confirmed it — treat it as unknown, never as a no. 8 of the 8 below are still unconfirmed.
- Restrooms
- Not verified
- Drinking water
- Not verified
- Showers
- Not verified
- Dump station
- Not verified
- Hookups
- Not verified
- Campfires
- Not verified
- Dogs allowed
- Not verified
- Reservations
- Not verified
- Max vehicle length
- Not verified — check with the park
- Season
- Not verified — check with the park
- Fees
- Not verified — check with the park
The last word on all of this is ncparks.gov(opens in a new tab).
Where it is
Coordinates & directions
Decimal degrees
- Latitude
- 35.860149
- Longitude
- -82.297788
35.8601° N · 82.2978° W
No map tiles here on purpose. Half of these places have no signal at the gate, so coordinates you can save offline beat a map that needs one. Drop them into your phone before you turn off the pavement.
Nearest gas and groceries: Burnsville
Before you go
Official sources
Fees, site counts, length limits and closures change season to season. Everything we have not confirmed ourselves is marked Not verified above rather than guessed at — and where we do have a number, the operator’s own page still wins.
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