page_title: Bullhead Trail
section_title: Trailhead to English Mountain overlook
hierarchical_section_title: Bullhead Trail / Trail synopsis / Trailhead to English Mountain overlook
caption_attribution_description: The stone platform located halfway along the Bullhead Trail to Mount Le Conte offers onlookers partial views into the Greenbrier Valley of the Great Smoky Mountains. Photo taken by myself, Scott Basford, on June 3, 2006.
context_page_description: The Bullhead Trail is an American hiking trail in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in Sevier County, Tennessee. The trail ascends Mount Le Conte, the tallest mountain east of the Mississippi River and offers outstanding views before joining the Rainbow Falls Trail before terminating near the LeConte Lodge.
context_section_description: The beginning of the Bullhead Trail is, for all intents and purposes, actually the trailhead to the Rainbow Falls Trail. Both trails are designated the same parking area, and because of their proximity (the two paths are separated only by a 0.3-mile (0.48 km) spur trail) many hikers choose to ascend one trail (usually the Rainbow Falls Trail) and descend the other. Given this, however, the trail is still the least popular route along Mount Le Conte, probably because of its isolation (in the woods, near to but away from its crowded neighbor trail) and that it contains no spectacular landmarks along its path. But it is this isolation that makes the trail so desirable to those who favor solitude when hiking.
  
  The trail itself begins gently underneath the covering of young hemlocks, quickly offering views through the brush of a second growth forest. The first two miles (3 km) of the trail consist of much switchbacking, as the hiker slowly but steadily gains elevation towards the Le Conte summit, and includes a pass just beneath Bullhead, a Le Conte heath bald which, from a distance, apparently gives the impression of a bull's head, from which the trail is named. At 2.5 miles (4.0 km) a boulder field offers the hiker a glimpse into the Le Conte Creek valley below, even offering views of the Space Needle in downtown Gatlinburg. The path then switches back over Bullhead and continues along toward the top of the mountain when it passes a large boulder directly to the left of the trail at 3.0 miles (4.8 km). On a clear day, the hiker can see magnificent views of both English and Sugarland mountains to the northeast and southwest respectively. The rock is large enough to provide a suitable resting place close to the halfway mark of the trail.
caption: Platform nearly halfway along Bullhead Trail from which English and Sugarland mountains can be seen.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "COOLPIX L3v1.2", "Image DateTime": "2006:06:03 18:52:27", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "284", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4596", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6015", "EXIF ExposureTime": "10/601", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "76", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:06:03 18:52:27", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:06:03 18:52:27", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "17/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "63/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1944", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1026", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "38", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}