Smugglers' Notch
Mountain Pass · Stowe, Vermont
A narrow pass through the Green Mountains between Mount Mansfield and the Sterling Ridge, where Vermont Route 108 squeezes for about three and a half miles between cliffs rising close to a thousand feet on either side, bending around house-sized boulders that have come off those cliffs over the centuries. Several of the boulders have hollows under them big enough to walk into. The road is one lane in places, has hairpin turns tight enough to bar long vehicles by state law, and cannot be ploughed - so it shuts from about mid-October to mid-May and the notch belongs to walkers and skiers for seven months of the year. The name comes from early nineteenth-century smuggling into Canada.
6443 Mountain Road, Stowe, Vermont, 05672, United States
⚠ THE ROAD THROUGH THE NOTCH IS CLOSED TO VEHICLES FROM ABOUT MID-OCTOBER TO MID-MAY and cannot be ploughed - this is an absolute seasonal closure, not an advisory, and it regularly catches people planning Route 108 as a through-route in spring or autumn. Check before committing to it. When open the road is FREE, a public state highway with no toll. ⚠ IT IS ONE LANE IN PLACES with hairpin turns, blind corners around house-sized boulders, steep grades, and only a few small gravel turnouts to stop at. ⚠ VERMONT LAW PROHIBITS SINGLE VEHICLES OVER 40 FEET AND COMBINATIONS OVER 45 FEET on this segment; lorries and large motorhomes get wedged here every year. SMUGGLERS' NOTCH STATE PARK at the Stowe end has parking, restrooms, a campground and the trailheads, on a modest Vermont State Parks day-use or camping fee. ⚠ IN WINTER THE CLOSED ROAD BECOMES AN EXCELLENT SKI AND SNOWSHOE ROUTE, free and traffic-free. ⚠ SMUGGLERS' NOTCH RESORT, AT CAMBRIDGE ON THE FAR SIDE, IS A DIFFERENT PLACE.
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