Stu and Theresa Allen: Alum Cave Bluffs

Today we hiked to Alum Cave Bluffs.

The Alum Cave Trail is in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The trail ascends Mount LeConte, the tallest (and sixth highest) mountain east of the Mississippi River. The trail is 4.4 miles roundtrip (I think they are all uphill...)

I've got some fuzzy shots, trying to get the pictures on the run so to speak, but this picture I took at the end of the hike and it's fuzzy because it started to rain, I mean really rain...

The first section of the Alum Cave Trail is a fairly gently climb.

It follows Alum Cave Creek for the first mile.

Then, just before reaching Arch Rock, the trail begins to follow the smaller Styx Branch. There is Stu, Jerry and Dennis crossing the rickety bridge.

A few hundred yards beyond this point, we saw boulders and log remains of a 1993 flash flood and landslide. A heavy thunderstorm dumped several inches of rain, with a force so great that huge boulders were exposed and tossed-- its path is clear and will remain so for years. Glad we weren't here for that!

At just over 1.3 miles from the trailhead we reached Arch Rock, the first prominent landmark along the trail.

The arch was formed by freezing and thawing which eroded away the softer rock from the underneath the harder rock.

There's the whole crew, Stu, me, Sylvia, Molly, Jan, Dennis (in the back), Debbie and Jerry.

The arch was formed by freezing and thawing which eroded away the softer rock from underneath the harder rock. The trail actually goes under the arch and requires a climb of several steps etched into the stone before exiting at the top.

Surprise, surprise! The rhododendrons were in bloom! How beautiful!

We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Roughly two miles from the trailhead we reached the appropriately named Inspiration Point; with its commanding views of Little Duck Hawk ridge towards the west, and Myrtle Point near the top of Mount LeConte towards the northeast. Truly amazing!

The Eye of the Needle, a hole in the rock at the top of Little Duck Hawk ridge, can also be seen from Inspiration Point. If you look really, really close you can see the Eye of the Needle at the top of the ridge on the right side of the picture.

Onward and upward, mostly upward...

The beginning of the bluffs.

At 2.2 miles we made it to Alum Cave, which really isn't a cave at all, but is actually a concaved bluff, at 4,950 feet elevation, about 80 feet in height, and roughly 500 feet in length.

Sylvia and Jan.

During the warmer months of the year water drips off the ledges above. No water dripping today, I'd say it was in the mid to high 60's and a little overcast on the hike today, perfect!

The first recorded account of Alum Cave goes back to 1837 when three farmers from Oconaluftee, North Carolina applied for a grant of a 50-acre tract of land that would include Alum Cave and its salt deposits. 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. Alum Cave has some interesting history behind it as well. The Epsom Salts Manufacturing company mined Epsom salt, which was used by mountain folk to dye homespun clothing a reddish brown. During the Civil War the Confederate Army mined saltpeter out of the cave, which they used to manufacture gunpowder.

This little guy, and lots of his friends and family (and a chipmunk and birds...) were begging for anything while we sat for a rest and a snack.

We could have continued on up to Mount LeConte, another 2.7 miles up. This is as far as we went today, but maybe next time... There is a lodge at the top, hikers can stay the night and hike back down the next day. The views were incredible!