18 Best Sights in The North Carolina Mountains, North Carolina

Many motorists swear that this 43-mile National Scenic Byway rivals the beauty of any comparable stretch on the Blue Ridge Parkway. You're unlikely to encounter traffic, and the solitude found on short hikes to peaks like Huckleberry Knob, a bald with 360-degree views, may be the highlight of your trip. 

This park—established in 1915 as North Carolina's first state park—includes the 6,684-foot Mt. Mitchell, the highest mountain peak east of the Rockies. At the 1,946-acre park you can drive nearly to the summit, where an observation tower provides panoramic views to as far as Clingmans Dome in the Smokies if clouds and haze aren't obscuring the horizon. The summit was named after Elisha Mitchell, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who died from a fall while trying to prove the mountain's true height. 

About 15 miles from Waynesville in the Shining Rock Wilderness Area of the Pisgah National Forest, this 6,030-foot rise had long stood in relative anonymity. But with the success of Charles Frazier's bestselling novel Cold Mountain, people want to see the region that Inman and Ada, the book's Civil War–era protagonists, called home. For a view of the splendid mass, stop at any of a number of overlooks off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Try the Cold Mountain Overlook, just past mile marker 411.9, or the Wagon Road Gap parking area, at mile marker 412.2. You can climb the mountain, but be prepared—the 10-mile hike to the summit is strenuous as you ascend nearly 3,000 feet in elevation.

At an elevation of 6,000 feet, Craggy Gardens has some of the Blue Ridge Parkway's most colorful displays of rhododendrons, usually blooming in June. You can also hike trails and picnic here. Craggy Pinnacle trail offers stunning 360-degree views.

As the headquarters of the prestigious Southern Highland Craft Guild, the Folk Art Center includes shops and daily craft demonstrations from March to December. It regularly hosts exceptional quilting, woodworking, and pottery shows.

One of the last remaining sections of old-growth forests in Appalachia has incredible 400-year-old yellow poplars that measure as large as 20 feet in circumference, along with huge hemlocks, oaks, and sycamores. Don't expect sequoias, but you're still likely to turn a corner on the trail and gasp with amazement at the scale of these behemoths. If you haven't seen a true virgin forest, you can only imagine what America must have looked like in the early days of settlement. A two-mile trail, moderately strenuous, takes you through wildflower- and moss-carpeted areas. During June, the parking lot is an excellent spot to see the light shows of the synchronous fireflies, which blink off and on in unison.

Green spaces along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain include this park, which has hiking, canoeing on a mountain lake, trout fishing, and camping.

A half-mile hike winds through evergreens and rhododendrons to overlooks with views of cascades tumbling into Linville Gorge. There's a visitor center, a campground, and a picnic area.

Some of the most challenging hikes and climbs in the South are in Linville Gorge, often called "the Grand Canyon of the East." The gorge is part of a 12,000-acre federal wilderness area in the Pisgah National Forest, and there are about 39 miles of trails here. Free backcountry camping permits are available from the Grandfather Mountain ranger's office in Nebo, which also has maps of the gorge and its trails.

Getting to this waterfall is easy, as it's right beside the road in Pisgah National Forest, though parking is limited. Water cascades 60 feet into a clear pool, where you can wade or take a swim. There's a parking area and a sometimes slippery walkway down to the falls.

The 5,721-foot Mt. Pisgah is one of the most easily recognized peaks around Asheville due to the television tower installed here in the 1950s. It has walking trails, a picnic area, and an amphitheater where nature programs are offered most evenings from June through October. There is an inn, a restaurant, and a small grocery a short distance away. Nearby Graveyard Fields is popular for blueberry picking in midsummer.

In this 1,500-acre public park, you can tackle a grueling climb to the top of the namesake Pinnacle or take a short walk on the state's only certified Nature Forest Therapy Trail. Brochures at the parking area include a map and guided prompts to help you clear your mind as you experience the forest. 

This fish hatchery operated by the state's Department of Wildlife Resources produces more than 400,000 brown, rainbow, and native brook trout each year for release in local streams. You can see the fish up close in more than 50 large tanks called raceways. There's also a visitor center with information about the life cycle of trout and an educational nature trail. The Davidson River, which runs by the hatchery, is popular for fly-fishing.

Dammed in 1928, this lake's name means "blue waters" in the Cherokee language. Cheoah Point Beach, in a cove on the north shore, is an attractive popular place to swim. Santeetlah has 76 miles of shoreline, with good fishing for crappie, bream, and lake trout, and is part of the Nantahala National Forest.

Mountain crafts and artwork are displayed—and much of them are for sale—at this cultural hub that promotes and pays tribute to the people and traditions of Graham County, including the native Cherokee. During summer, the Appalachian Evening Concert Series brings the region's best folk and bluegrass musicians to perform in the center's restored historic theater.

Located in the gold-domed Swain County Courthouse dating from 1908, this charming museum has displays on the history of settlers of this mountain area, including a one-room schoolhouse and a log cabin. It also serves as a visitor information center for both Bryson City, Swain County, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Regarded as one of the top mountain biking trail systems in the eastern United States, the four loop trails at Tsali offer ride opportunities from 4 to 14 miles. There's a campground and restrooms. Bike rentals are available from Tsali Cycles in Bryson City ( www.tsalicycles.com).

You don't have to walk the 1.2-mile round-trip trail to the summit of Waterrock Knob for a view—the vistas from the visitor center are also wonderful—but a trip to the top for sunrise or sunset can be stunning. Heading northeast from Cherokee on the Parkway, this is the first trail and notable summit.