Jan. 21, 2011

• North Carolina's mountains contribute to three primary ranges: the Black, Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains.
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• In North Carolina, there are more than 120 species of trees, more than you'll find from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean Sea.
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• You can hike from the bottom to the top of one of our 6,000-foot peaks and see almost every kind of flora you could encounter in driving from Georgia to Canada.
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• Eighty-eight miles of the Appalachian Trail wind through North Carolina's mountains.
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• North Carolina has more than 300 waterfalls, including Whitewater Falls, a 411-foot, two-tiered cascade that is the highest on the East Coast. There are more than 250 waterfalls and 200 miles of mountain streams in Transylvania County alone.
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• Mount Mitchell, at 6,684 feet, is the highest mountain in the eastern United States.
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• Sliding Rock, in Transylvania County, is a popular natural water slide. Riding the flow of 11,000 gallons of water per minute, thrill seekers rush down 67 feet of smooth stone and land in a 7-foot-deep pool.
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• The New River is the oldest river in the nation and the second oldest in the world.
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• The Blue Ridge Parkway, our nation's most scenic byway, stretches 250 miles in North Carolina, from Cherokee and the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to the Virginia-North Carolina border and beyond.
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• The oldest stand of virgin timber in the eastern United States is in North Carolina's mountains at Joyce Kilmer National Forest, where some trees are more than 400 years old and are among the tallest living organisms in the Eastern United States.
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• The Uwharrie Mountains in Montgomery County are thought to be the oldest mountains in North America and are among the oldest in the world at more than 600 million years old.
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• Biltmore, a 250-room French-inspired chateau, was completed in 1895 as the summer home of George Vanderbilt. Located in Asheville, it is the largest privately owned residence in America.