Late November 2018 found me on the five-mile Alum Cave Trail for the first time. I was hoping to have enough daylight and stamina to reach the summit, but I quickly realized that I started too late in the day to make the trip and return during daylight. I set my goal as Alum Cave Bluff, an obvious geologic feature along the route. When I reached the bluff, a fellow hiker mentioned that Gracie's Pulpit, the half-way point to the summit, was less than a quarter-mile up the trail. Gracie's Pulpit was previously called the Devil's Pulpit, but it was unofficially renamed by hikers decades ago to honor Gracie McNichol who hiked to the lodge atop the mountain 155 times and rode horseback another 89 times.
The Alum Cave Trail is a steep route with an average gradient of over 10% from the trailhead to Gracie's Pulpit. It has numerous stairs and steep dropoffs in some places. A couple of stream crossings require rock hopping, but most have a log footbridge. Several crossings near the trailhead have planked bridges wide enough to meet other hikers. Portions of the trail were rebuilt during 2015 and 2016 by a Trails Forever crew.
This post will cover the trail from the trailhead to Arch Rock, a distance of 1.1 miles. The 1.4 miles to continue on to Gracie's Pulpit, the halfway point of the trail, will be covered in another post.
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Topographic map with GPS route
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Elevation profile
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Approaching the bridge over Walker Camp Prong and the official trailhead
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Kiosk at trailhead
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Bridge over Walker Camp Prong
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Walker Camp Prong
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Approaching the bridge over Alum Cave Creek
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Bridge over Alum Cave Creek
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Gravel trail base
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End of the gravel and beginning of the mud
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The trail parallels Alum Cave Creek
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Sturdy stairs
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Massive water bar
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The creek has seeped onto the trail
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A smaller water bar
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A water bar and more mud
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Noisy Alum Cave Creek
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A longer view of the creek
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One more look at Alum Cave Creek
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More stairs
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Another trail-side cascade
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A rutted part of the trail has been filled in, forcing the trail to the right
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More whitewater
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A downed tree in the creek
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Near perfect trail surface
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The final wide bridge
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View from the bridge
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Drier gravel tread
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Footbridge over Styx Branch
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A small cascade on Styx Branch
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Approaching Styx Branch and Arch Rock
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Crossing Styx Branch
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Stairs entering Arch Rock
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Stairs exiting Arch Rock
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Looking back at Arch Rock
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Entrance to Great Smoky Mountains National Park is free.
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