Vermont Hiking Trails • Hiking Trail Finder

This site is designed to provide quick access to informative Vermont hiking websites. Private hiking enthusiasts have posted excellent web pages on Vermont hiking trails -- then posted those pages on free web servers -- only to be ignored by search engines. The purpose of this site is to provide a way to find these personal hiking pages, and make your research easier.

• Appalachian Trail GORP page, actually an introduction to slackpacking the AT.



• Appalachian Trail -- Danby Area Silas Griffith Inn -- not really a hiking link, but a B & B in the town of Danby that runs a shuttle out to the AT for slackpacking guests. Cool. Nice people, great looking place...take a look, and you'll see why we prefer slackpacking to sleeping in moldy tents on hard ground. They also have a hiking link, see Danby, below.



• Camel's Hump Excellent narrative describing the Monroe Trail route, with some excellent photos. A must-click on the Natural Born Hikers website.



• Danby Area brief page lists a few key hikes & highlights in Danby area. Page maintained by Silas Griffith Inn, see AT link above.



• General site by the Green Mountain Club features a dozen hikes of varying difficulty.



• Mount Elmore brief trip report of a snowshoe hike.



• General GORP entry page for Vermont. Good starting spot.



• General Long Trail & Appalachian Trail with section descriptions, trail notes, more. Outstanding site by A1 Trails.



• Green Mountain Club definitive site for Long Trail hikers and Vermont in General.



• Green Mountain National Forest GORP trail finder page, this is an excellent catalog of over 40 trails.



• The Long Trail The Long Trail is a 270-mile backcountry adventure along the crest of the Green Mountains in Vermont. Good intro site, links to trail info and maps.



• The Long Trail thru-hiker's short memoir by "Lightning Canuck." Fun, quick read.



• Long Trail Journal day by day, with mileage, notes, photos; excellent site. "Must see" site for LT hikers.



• Long Trail here's a very in-depth and extensive photo/journal of a 2003 thru-hike of the Long Trail by "Rough and Tumble." It will take a while to review all this, but you can also jump to certain sections and places. Thumbnail/menu driven; definitely a site to keep in mind if you're planning a thru hike or even if you're a section hiker or slacker.



• Long Trail Web site describes speed hike record for completing the Long trail, as done by "Cave Dog." Interesting, but not for most of us.



• Mt. Mansfield Trip map with clickable points leading to some excellent photos. This is on the "Turner Toys" website, which seems to donate a lot of web real estate to the Green Mountain hiking club. Check this one out.



• Middlebury - Trail Around MIddlebury The "TAM" is a now-complete 16 mile loop around the village of Middlebury that links several hundred acres of town land, conserved properties, schools, and other local landmarks. It's maintained by the Middlebury Area Land Trust and a whole bunch of sponsors and volunteers. This link goes to the main page, you have to click on the little trail icon to get to the trail. Great project and a terrific community effort.



• The Stowe Recreation Path A renowned 5.8 walking, hiking, biking, jogging, rollerblading, and cross-country skiing attraction. Let's be frank...this isn't really Vermont. You won't see Larry, Darryl & Darryl on this trail.



• Waterbury Area includes basic descriptions of Camel's Hump hiking, Long Trail, etc. Nice "basic" site gives fairly good introductory descriptions, by the Waterbury Tourist Council. Not a bad hiking site as tourist council sites go.

The Hills are alive...

Most of the Long Trail has no viewpoints. There, I said it. Yes, there are many exciting scenic vistas in Vermont, but you can plod along for miles on the Long Trail and not see anything but trees. You'll climb what seems like the steepest, highest mountain you've ever been on, and have absolutely zero reward at the top. Maybe a few empty Genesee cans scattered around.

You'd do well to grab a copy of the best local guide, called the Hiker's Guide to the Mountains of Vermont by Jared Gange, Andrew Nemethy, Nuna Teal, Alden Pellet, matthe Cull, Jared J. Gange, Matthew Cull, Resting Lion Studio, Linda Young, Larry, Darryl & Darryl. Anyway, it sells out all the time, so I think this Amazon link will take you to a used copy you can pick up at discount. Hey, New England thrift and all that.

Now, here's a business I don't know anything about, other than the fact that they seem to donate a ton of bandwidth to their chapter of the Green Mountain club. It's called Turner Toys. I put the link here because anybody who donates so much time and energy to maintaining those trails deserves a plug. And considering their dedication to the blazed pathway, I bet they have some darn fine quality toys.

On another note, I'm sad to say that we recently lost a true Vermont icon, The Dog Team Tavern north of Middlebury. I planned to dine there the night it burned, then changed my plans to the following night. You can't imagine how shocked I was to find it burned to the ground. The sadness is compounded by the loss of the most recent owner, Mr. Hesslink, who perished in the fire he apparently started. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.

-- Rick Bolger, Vermont resident 1974-1975.

Please click here for the Slackpacker web site

Want to add YOUR Vermont hiking page? It's free, it's easy, and there are no strings attached. Please click the "Submit a Site" button, above left, for instructions and complete information.

Got kids? Got kids? Recently caught this guy, Brady Rymer, at a show in the northeast. Infectious to say the least, a fun, energetic sing-along type thing had the audience singing and grinning from ear to ear. Now don't ask why, but I bought the CD (my own kids are teenagers) and now I can't get these tunes out of my head. If you've got kids between the ages of 2 and 7 or thereabouts, you'll just love this music. So much better musically and lyrically than the usual drivel recorded for kids, that mind-numbing stuff that drives you nuts. If you don't have kids, you'll have to think up some other excuse for buying it. And when you do, let me know, because my daughters think I'm crazy. Not sure where'd you find it in stores, so here's a direct link to Amazon.com for I Found It! and again, the singer's name is Brady Rymer. Just great stuff, excellent gift for pre-K kids.