Long Trail Relocation Brings New Accessible Boardwalk To Smugglers’ Notch
While the visitor’s center is only open on the weekends, a nearby kiosk provides information 24/7. Photo by Amy Kolb Noyes for VPR
The Friday before Memorial Day marks the traditional start of the hiking season in Vermont. This year, it’s also the opening of a newly relocated section of the Long Trail that includes a wheelchair and stroller accessible boardwalk.
It was just a couple weeks ago when the snow and ice sufficiently melted away to open Route 108 through Smuggers’ Notch, between Cambridge and Stowe.
Now, hiking season is getting underway and visitors to the Stowe side of the notch can take advantage of a new attraction.
A relocated section of the Long Trail now includes an accessible boardwalk, as Green Mountain Club Field Supervisor Ilana Copel explained:
“The boardwalk will take you out into the beaver dam/wetland area and you get a really nice view of the notch, but past that it’s a traditional hiking trail,” she said. “There are pulloffs as you go with informational signs about the history of the area, the history of the wetlands, the ecological benefits of the wetland area, animals that live in them.”
The boardwalk is part of a mile-long relocated section of the Long Trail.