This is the beginning of the trailhead off the road adjacent to the parking lot/picnic area. It's pretty deceptive, giving you the impression this will be an easily-traversed trail. Luckily for us we'd read a paragraph about it in the book of Hiking Trails in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park and were fore-warned that this trail was in the "medium" category for skill level. The trail sure challenged us but the scenery along the way was beautiful and worth it in the end. Feeling like we had the whole mountainside (almost) to ourselves, with only seeing 4 other hikers made it even more unique of an experience.