The northern flank of Snake Den Ridge is drained by the upper Greenbrier Creek watershed.

The Snake Den Ridge Trail continues westward, rising gradually along the gravel road.

At approximately 0.5 miles (0.80 km), the trail passes a small cemetery, which contains several burials of residents who lived in the Cosby Campground vicinity before the creation of the park.

At around 1.5 miles (2.4 km), the trail turns sharply to the south for several hundred yards before switching back to the west and reapproaching Inadu Creek.

The Snake Den Ridge Trail crosses Inadu Creek immediately upstream from a small waterfall.

From Inadu Creek, the trail follows a steep incline northward to the crest of the ridge, where it turns westward again to ascend along the ridgecrest.

As it ascends the crest of Snake Den Ridge, the trail traverses several backbone formations lined with thick stands of rhododendron and mountain laurel known as heaths (sometimes called "hells" in Appalachia).

Just beyond the junction, before the trail turns briefly to the east, the summits of Inadu Knob and Old Black are visible through a break in the foliage.

A high-altitude helicopter landing pad is located along the Appalachian Trail in the gap between Inadu Knob and Old Black, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of the Snake Den Ridge junction.

Just beyond the landing area, on the slopes of Old Black, there are several breaks in the treeline opening up views of the Tennessee Valley to the northwest and Kuwohi and Mount Le Conte to the west.