[2] Its topographic prominence is drastically reduced, however, by its close proximity to two higher neighbors, Kuwohi and Mount Le Conte.

The gap is traversed by U.S. Highway 441, the only paved road crossing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park from north to south.

Mount Kephart is composed of a type of slate and meta-siltstone known as Anakeesta Formation, which is common throughout the central Smokies.

[3] The Anakeesta Formation rocks are part of the Ocoee Supergroup, formed from ocean sediments nearly a billion years ago.

The mountain was formed 200 million years ago when the African and North American plates collided and thrust the rock upward during the Appalachian orogeny.

"[8] A Civilian Conservation Corps camp operated on the mountain's southern base in the 1930s, the chimney of which remains near the head of the Kephart Prong Trail.

[9] The Appalachian Trail crosses Mount Kephart's southern slope en route to the Sawteeth and the eastern Smokies.

While the trail misses the summit by just over 200 feet (60 m), several clearings between Mount Ambler and Icewater Spring have views of the south-central Smokies and Kuwohi.