The Long Trail
Historic Route · Waterbury Center, Vermont
Two hundred and seventy-three miles of footpath running the whole length of Vermont along the spine of the Green Mountains, from the Massachusetts line near Clarksburg to the Canadian border at Jay. The Green Mountain Club cut it between 1910 and 1930 and still maintains it with about a thousand volunteers, and it is the oldest long-distance hiking trail in the United States - old enough that it is where somebody got the idea for the Appalachian Trail, which now shares its southern hundred miles.
4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road, Waterbury Center, Vermont, 05677, United States
The trail is open at all times and FREE - no permit, no fee and no quota anywhere on its 273 miles. ⚠ MUD SEASON IS A REQUESTED CLOSURE: the Green Mountain Club asks walkers to stay off the higher trail from roughly LATE MARCH TO LATE MAY, because saturated ground is damaged lastingly by boots. The practical walking season is late June to early October; SNOW AND ICE PERSIST ON HIGH GROUND INTO JUNE AND RETURN IN OCTOBER. Shelters and lodges along the trail are mostly free, with a modest overnight charge at some staffed lodges collected by the caretaker. ⚠ THERE IS NO SHUTTLE SERVICE - a one-way section walk needs two vehicles. THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB VISITOR CENTRE at Waterbury Center on Route 100 keeps its own seasonal hours and is the place to get current trail conditions before starting.