Black Mountain
A short clifftop loop from the Black Mountain Road trailhead that threads house-sized sandstone boulders to the north and south overlooks above Grassy Cove.
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- Length
- 1.2 mi
- Elevation gain
- 220 ft
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route
- loop
Trail conditions
No recent condition reports. Hiked it lately?
Report current conditions →Elevation
1.2 mi · 220 ft of climbing · high 2,826 ft · low 2,643 ft
Find the trailhead
Parking
Paved summit parking off Black Mountain Road near Crossville; free. The clifftop overlooks are unrailed, and one section squeezes through a rock crack.
Directions to parkingWeather at the trailhead
72°FRain showers now
Sunrise 5:23 AM · Sunset 7:58 PM
- TodayThunderstorm77° / 66°F50% precip
- FriDrizzle76° / 64°F13% precip
- SatOvercast79° / 58°F2% precip
Forecast from Open-Meteo. Mountain conditions change fast; check again before you go.
From the paved summit parking, a connector meets the Cumberland Trail and a roughly mile-long loop wanders through a maze of massive sandstone blocks, squeezing through a stair-stepped crack known as the Gateway. Spur paths reach the Black Mountain North and South overlooks, which open over the farmland sink of Grassy Cove toward distant Cumberland ridges. This is the Cumberland Trail's Black Mountain section, distinct from Cumberland Mountain State Park.