The highest east of the Mississippi

If you had to guess where the highest point east of the Mississippi river is, where would you put it? I personally always thought that it would be somewhere in the Northeast. Maine or New Hampshire always came to mind for whatever reason. It wasn’t until I was on my way to Mount Mitchell, the highest point in North Carolina, that I realized I was wrong. I was flipping though my highpoint book-that’s how amazing cool I am, I have a book about highpoints I carry with me-and learned that Mount Mitchell is the highest point my side of the Mississippi river, with an elevation of 6,684’.

It really isn’t that amazing when you consider that the lowest point in Colorado is more than half this high, but since we are self-conscious of our small mountain on this side of the country, we do whatever we can to make them sound bigger.

I am guessing most of you travel around a fair amount, and I am sure you noticed that every place loves to be known as the biggest, the shortest, the widest, the oldest, the whatever-est in the world. Mount Mitchell’s main tourist trap happens to be the highest restaurant east of the Mississippi. That’s right, OMG! Just like the mountain!!

Not that I can blame NC, if they can find a bunch of people, like me, simple enough to go to a mountain just because it is the highest point in that state, then the same group of people will probably get a cup of chili and a t-shirt while they are up there. The pictures I got are a little blurry for whatever reason, but they should give you a rough idea of what it looks like. Check it out while you are there. The next time you are looking for a great conversation starter with the opposite sex, dropping the line, “So, you ever been to the highest restaurant east of the Mississippi? I have,” will do wonders. Take it from me, mountain climbing and relationship expert, Mark Zimmer.