About beyond Spartanburg one reaches the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After crossing the border into Polk County, I-26 intersects with U.S. Route 74, a limited-access freeway near Columbus, and it heads up a 6% grade for the next three miles through Howard Gap. Then it passes over the highest bridge in North Carolina, the Peter Guice Memorial Bridge, above the Green River between Saluda and Flat Rock in Henderson County, and it crosses the Eastern Continental Divide at an elevation of , having climbed from an elevation of around at the US 74 interchange. The land flattens substantially after entering the French Broad River drainage basin from Flat Rock to Hendersonville, Fletcher, and Arden.