At Brown Mountain Beach Road, the sharp bend of the highway starts the climb up through the Pisgah National Forest to Jonas Ridge.

The last section of the highway goes by several hills and mountains covered by Fraser firs before entering the Newland city limits and ending at NC 194 (Pineola Street).

An oddity for a two-lane surface road in the state; however, the reason why they exist is simply to assist police and rescue crews to better locate accidents or lost hikers along the curvy section of the highway.

Route 6 is concurrent with NC 181 from its southern terminus in Morganton to Brown Mountain Road and Route 2 is concurrent from Brown Mountain Road to NC 183.

Because of these extra features, it is not uncommon to find several bikes and motorcycles riding along the highway on any given nice day.