Alum Cave Trail

Infobox Hiking trail
Name=Alum Cave Trail
Photo=Alum_Cave_Bluffs_Trailhead.jpg
Caption=The trailhead of the Alum Cave Trail
Location=Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee, United States
Length=5.0 mi; 8.05 km
Start/End Points=Mount Le Conte, Tennessee (Trailhead near Walker Camp Prong off U.S. Highway 441)
Terminus at junction with the Rainbow Falls Trail near the LeConte Lodge
Use=Hiking
ElevChange=2,700 ft; 823 m
HighPoint=Junction with the Rainbow Falls Trail
LowPoint=Trailhead at Walker Camp Prong
Difficulty=Moderately strenuous
Season=Spring to Fall
Sights=Arch Rock, Alum Cave Bluff, Great Smoky Mountains
Hazards=Ice (in winter), loose rocksThe Alum Cave Trail (Also referred to as Alum Cave Bluff Trail) is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The trail ascends Mount Le Conte, the tallest [http://www.mtleconte.com/history.html] (and sixth highest) mountain east of the Mississippi River and contains many notable landmarks before merging into the Rainbow Falls Trail, near the summit. It is one of the most popular destinations for visitors to the national park.

Vital information

*The Alum Cave Trail is the shortest and steepest of the five trails leading to the Le Conte masiff, which contains four separate peaks in all, the highest of which has an elevation of convert|6593|ft|m. Due to its short length and beautiful scenery (it is often considered Le Conte's most scenic route) it is the most common footpath for hikers seeking to summit Le Conte.
*The trailhead is located inside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, about convert|10|mi|km from the town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee, off Newfound Gap Road (U.S. Highway 441)

Landmarks/overlooks

*Arch Rock
*Inspiration Point
*Eye of the Needle

Alum Cave Bluff

Alum Cave is not a true cave. It is what geologists refer to as a rock shelter. A rock shelter is a rock overhang that resembles a cave entrance, but does not open into an actual cave.

The first recorded account of Alum Cave goes back to 1837 when three farmers (Ephraim Mingus, Robert Collins, and George W. Hayes) from Oconaluftee, North Carolina applied at the Sevier County (Tennessee) Land Office for a grant of a 50-acre tract of land that would include Alum Cave and its salt deposits. Tennessee sold the tract of land to the three men on December 6, 1838. The Epsom Salts Manufacturing Company was formed to mine the deposit. The minerals mined were alum, Epsom salt, saltpeter, magnesia, and copperas. The easily accessible salts were depleted by the mid-1840s, but mining resumed during the Civil War. There is no report on any mining after the Civil War. An article on the history of the mining of Alum Cave and of its mineralogy may be found in the March/April 2000 issue of the "Mineralological Record". The article was written by T. Dennis Coskren and Robert J. Lauf and is titled "The Minerals of Alum, Cave Bluff: Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee."

*Little Duck Hawk Ridge
*Gracie's Pulpit
*Cliff Tops
*LeConte Lodge
*Dolly Parton Peaks

Trail synopsis

Trailhead to Arch Rock

The Alum Cave Trail begins its ascent at convert|3830|ft|m by quickly crossing two streams: Walker Camp Prong and Alum Cave Creek, the latter of which flanks the trail for the first convert|1.3|mi|km of its length. This first leg of the trail leads the hiker through an old-growth forest, comprised largely of hemlock and yellow birch and is relatively easy, as the climb is gradual and the footpath is well-maintained due to its heavy traffic. The first notable landmark comes convert|1.3|mi|km into the hike at what is known as "Arch Rock", which is a large black slate rock that has, over millennia, come to create, as the name indicates, a large natural arch. Hikers maneuver easily through the cold, moist rock via stairs and steel cables which are placed at numerous points along the footpath.

Arch Rock to Alum Cave Bluff

As the hiker moves beyond Arch Rock, s/he will gradually hear the trail trade in the powerful company of Alum Cave Creek for the smaller Styx Branch, which accompanies the path for a short distance. Inspiration Point is the next landmark along this less trafficked, though still popular, arm of the trail. Upon this outcropping of rocks about convert|4700|ft|m in elevation, a hiker can, on a clear day, get an unobscured view of the surrounding landscape, most notably Little Duck Hawk Ridge. Not far from Inspiration Point, the Eye of the Needle (a round, see-through hole cut into the side of Little Duck Hawk Ridge) can be seen to the left as the hiker continues along the now rocky trail. Just a short jaunt from there, at convert|2.2|mi|km, the hiker soon finds the ubiquitous orange clay of Alum Cave Bluff. The bluff sits at around convert|4950|ft|m in elevation [http://www.mtleconte.com/acblocations.html] , and reaches eighty feet in height. A danger in winter due to the massive icicles which often form and crash down onto the trail, and a shelter during the frequent rainstorms in these mountains, the bluffs are the final destination for most hikers along the trail which shares its namesake.

Alum Cave Bluff to the LeConte Lodge

Once the hiker reaches this final section of the trail (comprising over half of the path's total distance) most of his/her company has been left behind, leaving only hikers headed for Le Conte's pinnacle. The first half mile or so beyond the bluffs is the single steepest portion of the hike, and included in this section is Gracie's Pulpit. Named for the matron of the mountain, Gracie McNichol, who famously hiked the trail on her 92nd birthday (among very many other times), the pulpit marks the halfway point of the Alum Cave Bluff Trail. From here, when skies permit, the onlooker can get as clear a view as any other along the trail of the four peaks of Le Conte (West Point, Cliff Tops, High Top, and Myrtle Point). After Gracie's Pulpit the hiker enjoys a scenic, peaceful — if strenuous — hike through highland Appalachia toward the end of the trail, with many small water crossings and overlooks along the way. Once the hiker reaches the 6,000-foot plateau, s/he enters into what once was a beautiful Fraser Fir zone, but, due to the ravages of the balsam wooly adelgid and acid rain, now is dominated with dead Frasers. A prolific crop of healthy young Fraser firs grows in the place of the old dead ones in many areas, giving hope for the future of the species. And the area still does possess great beauty, with the fragrant smell of spruce and fir wafting through many of the trail's corridors. As the hiker reaches the terminus, and the Alum Cave Bluff Trail assimilates into the Rainbow Falls Trail, s/he will soon encounter the LeConte Lodge. The LeConte Lodge provides the only commercial lodging in the national park, as it operates about 10 rustic cabins with no electricity or appliances. The Lodge also operates an office which provides t-shirts and other merchandise for hikers and various amenities for guests of the lodge. For many, this signals the end of their journey, but the actual peaks of Le Conte all have separate trails a short distance from the lodge, with Cliff Tops (for sunsets) and Myrtle Point (for sunrises) each offering expansive panoramas of the mountains and valleys below.

References

* [http://www.mtleconte.com/history.html Webpage Verifying Tallest Mountain Claim]

External links

* [http://www.mtleconte.com/history.html Detailed Trail Information With Photos and Short History]
* [http://www.gsmnp.com/pages/alum_cave.html Trail Summary]
* [http://www.mtleconte.com/acblocations.html Alum Cave Bluff Trail Description By Ed Wright, Who Hiked the Trail Over One-Thousand Times]