Smugglers' Notch

The notch earned its name in 1807, when President Jefferson's Embargo Act barred trade with Britain and Canada. Vermonters, with long-standing trade ties to Montreal, simply kept trading illegally, herding cattle north through the pass and hauling silk, lace, and whiskey back to sell across New England. The rugged, hidden gap was perfect for slipping goods across the line.

The smuggling did not end there. The first road was pushed through the notch in 1922, just as Prohibition took hold, and Canadian whiskey began moving south through the same rocks. Earlier still, freedom seekers escaping slavery are said to have used the notch as a route north toward Canada, hiding and sleeping in its caves by day and traveling by night. Few mountain passes carry so many layers of quiet history in one narrow place.

The notch is choked with enormous boulders that have fallen from the cliffs over the ages, some of them thousands of tons. King Rock, a roughly six-thousand-ton mass, dropped from the mountain in 1910 and sits beside the road on the Stowe side. It is these giants the road must weave around, which is why it narrows and twists the way it does.

High on the walls, the cliffs form shapes that generations of travelers have named. Elephant's Head, which lost its stone trunk in the 1960s, still watches over the pass, and there are others called Singing Bird, the Hunter and His Dog, and Smuggler's Face, a great visage in relief on the rock. Looking up to find them is part of the fun of stopping in the notch, and the cliffs themselves are a well-known destination for rock and ice climbers.

The notch is a launching point for some of the best hiking around Stowe. The Sterling Pond Trail leaves right from the parking area at the top and climbs steeply about a mile to Vermont's highest trout pond, where it joins the Long Trail, the state's storied ridgeline footpath. From the notch you can also reach Mount Mansfield itself by way of the Long Trail and other routes rising from VT-108.

Just down the road toward Stowe, within Smugglers' Notch State Park, a short trail drops to Bingham Falls, a scenic multi-tier gorge and waterfall on the West Branch of the Waterbury River. Between the summit hikes, the pond, the falls, and the climbing crags, the pass is far more than a scenic pull-through. It is a hub for a full day in the Green Mountains.

The pass sits on VT Route 108 about six and a half miles northwest of Stowe Village, and the drive up is half the experience. The road is tight and twisting with blind hairpin turns, so take it slowly, and note that trucks, buses, and RVs are not allowed through, because the turns are too sharp and jackknifes are frequent. Parking at the height of land is limited and fills quickly on peak days.

Timing matters here more than at most stops. VT-108 through the notch closes for the winter, generally from around mid-fall until mid-spring, with the exact dates shifting each year with the snow. When it is gated shut, the notch does not go quiet so much as change hands, becoming a beloved snowshoe, backcountry-ski, and cross-country route through a hushed, cliff-walled corridor. In the open season, give yourself time to park, walk among the boulders, look up for the named rocks, and take a trail into the mountains.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.