Smugglers' Notch Loop · VT-108

Vermont's most famous pass: from Stowe you take VT-108 up Mountain Road, climb Smugglers' Notch between giant boulders, drop to Jeffersonville and come back through Johnson, Hyde Park and Morrisville. It's 43 miles; the main event is the Notch, narrow and with bends so tight it turns one lane at the top. It's seasonal: VT-108 through the Notch closes every fall until May, and long vehicles and trailer combinations are banned. Check New England 511 before you go.

Smugglers' Notch takes its name from the Embargo Act of 1807: trade with Britain and Canada was banned, and Vermonters kept it going by carrying goods and driving livestock through this pass to Montreal. Later it served fugitive slaves heading north and, during Prohibition, liquor coming south. The notch separates Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in the Green Mountains, from Spruce Peak, and on VT-108 the road squeezes between boulders through bends so tight that it narrows to a single lane near the top, where there's a parking area to stop and look.

The Notch closes every fall, usually between mid-October and November, and reopens in mid-May; in 2026 VTrans closed it on October 16 for weather. Vehicles over 40 feet and combinations with trailers over 45 feet are banned, and the state put chicanes at both ends to keep big rigs out. On the north side, Jeffersonville has the Grist Mill Covered Bridge over the Brewster River and the Poland Covered Bridge at Cambridge Junction, both a few steps off the route. There's fuel in Stowe, Jeffersonville, Johnson and Morrisville.