Stowe Recreation Path
Behind the Stowe Community Church, Main St
Stowe, VT
One of America's pioneering greenways, a free paved path that follows the river and crosses it a dozen times with Mount Mansfield always in view.
The Stowe Recreation Path is a 5.3-mile paved greenway that winds from the village of Stowe out toward the base of Mount Mansfield, and it is widely counted among the finest recreation paths in the country. Nearly level and open to all, it fills in summer with walkers, joggers, cyclists, and inline skaters, turns into one of Vermont's classic foliage strolls in fall, and becomes a beloved cross-country ski and snowshoe route once the snow arrives. Best of all, it is free.
What sets it apart is not just the scenery but the story of how it came to be. This path was not carved from an old railroad bed or laid across public land. It was assembled corridor by corridor from easements donated by dozens of private landowners, and the townspeople helped pay for it by literally buying it by the inch. The result is an early, much-copied model of a community-built greenway, and a walk or ride along it is a walk through that generosity as much as through the Vermont hills.
What Guests Love
- A nearly level, fully paved path that suits everyone from serious cyclists to strollers and first-time walkers
- Crossing the West Branch again and again on arched wooden bridges, with the river never far away
- Open views up to Mount Mansfield and the Green Mountains along much of the route
- The way it changes with the seasons, from summer riding to blazing fall foliage to winter cross-country skiing
Worth Knowing
- The path is free and open to the public, owned and kept up by the Town of Stowe
- It runs about 5.3 miles one way, so you can walk or ride a short piece or the whole length and back as you like
- There are several access points along the Mountain Road, so you can join or leave it near many lodgings rather than only at the village end
- In winter it becomes a route for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing rather than walking or biking, so plan your gear to the season
Details
Stowe, VT
Learn about Stowe Recreation Path
A path the whole town built
The idea of a path along the Mountain Road went back to the 1960s, born partly out of a wish to ease the traffic on Route 108, but it only took real shape in the late 1970s when the philanthropist Claire Lintilhac backed a proper route and design. Construction ran in two phases through the 1980s, and coordinating it all was a genuinely difficult job, because the corridor had to be stitched together from easements across more than thirty separate private parcels.
To make it happen, the community pitched in directly. Townspeople bought the path by the inch, roughly two dollars an inch and fifteen dollars a foot, helping fund the cost of building it. That grassroots effort is why the finished path won national recognition and became a model that towns across the country studied. When you walk it, you are crossing land that neighbors chose to share so that everyone could enjoy the valley on foot and on wheels.
Along the West Branch, under Mount Mansfield
From its start behind the Stowe Community Church, the path follows the West Branch of the Little River up the valley, crossing the water again and again, about a dozen times in all, on graceful arched wooden bridges. Between crossings it runs through open meadows, patches of woods, and farmland, with the bulk of Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest peak, rising ahead and the Green Mountains all around.
Because it parallels the Mountain Road and its string of inns, cafes, and swimming holes, the path is as much a spine of village life as a recreational trail. You can hop on and off at many points, stop for a dip in the river on a hot day, or ride out for a meal and roll back. That easy, level, in-and-out character is a big part of why it works so well for families and casual visitors, not just athletes.
A path for every season
The Stowe Recreation Path is genuinely a year-round draw. In summer it is at its busiest, with cyclists and walkers out morning to evening and kids cooling off in the river. In autumn it becomes one of the great foliage walks in a state famous for its color, the maples along the West Branch turning the whole corridor gold and red under the mountain.
Once winter sets in the pavement disappears under snow and the path converts to a route for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, quiet and white and beautiful in a different way. Whatever the season, it stays free and open, right at the edge of the village, which makes it one of the easiest and most rewarding things to do in Stowe on any given day.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Stowe
Bingham Falls
About 5 miles
A short, steep public trail off Route 108 dropping to a dramatic gorge and waterfall on the West Branch.
Smugglers Notch State Park
About 9 miles
A narrow, boulder-lined mountain pass beneath thousand-foot cliffs, with hiking, caves, and a twisting scenic drive that closes in winter.
Mount Mansfield
About 8 miles
Vermont's highest summit, with ridge hikes, the auto Toll Road, and long views from the peaks known as the Nose and the Chin.
Moss Glen Falls
About 4 miles
One of Vermont's tallest and most photographed waterfalls, reached by a short walk off Randolph Road.