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Backpacker Magazine – September 2008

The Works: Hike Vermont's Long Trail

Sample the best section of the country's first thru-hike.

by: Jarett Emert

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(Photo by Tim Seaver)

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Map by International Mapping Associates

PLAN IT

The Way
From Main Street in Waterbury, turn south on Winooski St., and drive 0.1 mile to River Rd. Turn right and head 3.9 miles to Camel's Hump Rd. Turn left, and go 3.5 miles to the trailhead.

Book and Map
Long Trail Guide ($19) and the End-to-Ender's Guide ($9; both by the Green Mountain Club). Vermont's Long Trail Hiking Map ($10). greenmountainclub.org

Ben & Jerry's pints, Burton snowboards, and Maple syrup may be Vermont's most famous exports, but long-distance hiking was born here, too. The 272-mile Long Trail (LT), completed in 1930, is the country's first thru-hikers' trail.

From its southern terminus on the Vermont-Massachusetts border, the Long Trail traces the spine of the Green Mountains en route to Canada, passing archetypal landscapes of rolling pastures, red barns, and grazing Holsteins.

You can go end to end in a month, but we have the beta for the perfect week–a 50.3-mile trek that encompasses the LT's best scenery and highest terrain.