. The trail follows Alum Cave creek up to this point and then it starts the steep terrain.
is the newest addition to the National Park. The lodge at the top of the mountain is being used by the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI)researchers. In the ATBI, scientists are attempting to catalog every type of living organism in the park (down to the parasites on bats!).
The geology of the Smokies is incredible! There are areas of sedimentary shale and sandstone and metamorphic slate. It is not uncommon to find large igneous White Quartz boulders like this along the trails.
