Alum Cave Trail

Alum Cave Trail effort & difficulty

GoatBeam summarizes Alum Cave Trail (Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee) effort from verified route geometry and DEM elevation — planning context, not a fitness or safety rating.

Trip distance is about 9.7 mi with roughly +3996 ft of elevation gain on this out-and-back.

Difficulty from verified grades

Along-trail grade distribution (by distance): 33% gentle, 30% moderate, 21% steep. Bands describe slope magnitude from the DEM profile, not trail difficulty labels from guidebooks.

Average climbing grade on ascent samples is about 9.1%.

The steepest rolling uphill grade in the verified profile reaches about 26.2%.

The steepest sustained climb spans about 0.3 mi near 1.9 mi into the trip (mean ~15.7%, peak ~26.2%).

Verified DEM grades show climbing concentrated earlier in the trip.

Elevation & elevation gain

Alum Cave Trail elevation gain is about +3996 ft on the published outing.

The verified elevation range runs from roughly 3898 ft to 6404 ft.

Elevation loss along the trip is about 3996 ft.

Elevation profile

The GoatBeam elevation profile charts distance against DEM elevation for Alum Cave Trail, so you can see where gain accumulates before you hike.

Use the profile together with the grade callouts above to locate the steepest verified section and where climbing concentrates.

3D map & trail map

GoatBeam’s interactive 3D map and trail map for Alum Cave Trail show the verified corridor on terrain — spin and beam tools help you read the landscape before you go.

Where Beam Points exist, you can jump into real trail viewpoints; gaps stay visible rather than invented.