Explore the best rated trails in Montpelier, VT, whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Cross Vermont Trail and South Burlington Recreation Path . With more than 36 trails covering 443 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
The paved bike path is 8.7 miles starting from the Flume Gorge visitor center in Lincoln and ending at the Skookumchuck trailhead on US 3/Daniel Webster Hwy. This is an excellent trail, with quite a few steep inclines as you’re going through Franconia notch. The trail has many views of the mountains, including the cliffs that the Old Man of the Mountain used to reside on. The trail goes right beside The Basin, as well as along the edge of Echo Lake. You can begin on either end, but there is more parking at the Flume Visitor Center. The trail has many ups and downs, but it mostly ascends for about 4 miles from the Flume, then mostly descends the rest of the way as you go over Franconia Notch. There are a few steep sections along the way and a few past Cannon Mountain towards the last section of the trail. It is an excellent trail for biking, or just walking. There are quite a few locations with picnic tables if you want to bring a lunch and have a great little picnic spot. Overall it’s an excellent path, and was especially great using electric bikes.
Island Line Rail Trail OR Burlington Path OR Greenway Island Line Trail OR Burlington Greenway OR Colchester Causeway. This trail was labeled with five different names along the path, but I'll just call it SENSATIONAL!
I rode this early in the morning on Friday the Thirteenth of October 2023, but I had nothing but great luck and a marvelous experience! I drove over 2,800 miles from SoCal for this adventure, and I had no rain, temps in the 50's, and the causeway practically all to myself!
This trail is truly deserving of its Hall of Fame status. It's in remarkable condition, and the picturesque views and fall colors make it a true all-star of trails!
Of course the star of the show is the three mile long Colchester Causeway extending across Lake Champlain. It is absolutely breathtaking, provides countless photo ops, and is something you will never forget!
But the trail is more than just the causeway. Ride the full thirteen miles from Oakledge Park in Burlington to take advantage of all the trail has to offer: gorgeous lake and marina views, charming neighborhoods and homes, bridges, art and sculpture installations, wildlife, a super long boardwalk over a marshy area, and of course the woodlands and its fall colors. The photo ops are infinite!
I've bicycled in 49 of our 50 states, and this trail is easily within my top five favorites! I wish I lived in the Burlington area so I could ride this SENSATIONAL trail every day!
We were staying in the Lone Pine RV park and decided to check this out. It was part roadway part bike path to Lake Champlain. The signage when along residential streets were not great. We missed a turn and shortly after realized we were no longer on the trail, checked this app and saw where we were supposed to go. It’s a trail I wouldn’t go out of my way to do.
What a great ride. Paved path across bridges and a very wide tree canopy at points. The best a hard pack gravel section when you ride out on a spit with Lake Champlain on either side of you. In season you can take a bike ferry from the end of the trail over to another trail to South Hero. It was closed when we were there just after Columbus Day weekend. We’ve done this trail twice and just love it.
I've always been a great fan of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail from it's very beginning when there was only 1.5 miles in St Johnsbury and now it's 93 miles long!
As I write this, because of flooding earlier this summer, about 21 miles of trail are closed as the VT AOT repair damage to the trail.
But this review is focused on the 20 miles of trail from Cambridge Junction that head north and west to Sheldon Junction. This has instantly become my favorite stretch of the LVRT, but it was a bit disappointing as far as trail surface.
The good stuff first, this whole stretch of trail shows off the rural side of Vermont, it's quiet, peaceful, and has easy undulations to elevation and absolutely beautiful scenery. I really enjoyed this ride.
About the halfway point the trail passes through the small village of East Fairfield, the day I rode through there was a welcoming food truck open just as you enter the village. There was also a convenience store down the road a short distance. East Fairfield is the only real stop for food or water, the trail does not pass through the Town of Fairfield as it turns north.
The one detraction from the ride on this portion is the trail surface. The trail surface from Route 109 in Cambridge all the way to Bridge St in Sheldon has much more loose gravel than other sections of the LVRT.
It requires a little bit more work to ride the surface mile after mile, and even a couple of times my front tire bogged down a bit where the gravel "bunched up".
It's not a game changer, but the surface is definitely different from other parts of the trail. Overall, as I said before, this is now my favorite trail section on the LVRT... it's so peaceful... I'll be riding it again soon!
This trail is not suitable for biking at all. There are very large rocks and in places they dumped sand on the trail. Only rode from Littleton to Lisbon because the riding was so rough. We have hybrid bikes with suspension but we felt like it was way too rough! Never again! Get rid of the ATVs that tear up the trail or market this only to them! ¿
Parked across from the Danbury County Store. Headed west towards Grafton. Only saw a coupe peopling using the trail this late Friday afternoon. Trail was smooth and dry even with rain the prior day.
great place to start. plenty of free parking, restrooms, pickle ball & tennis courts avaible. ride to s. hero island is unique, heading into lake champlain on the way to s. hero island. island has restrooms. farms, resturants, & much more. toltal distance was apx. 20 miles. this includes a short bike ferry ride to complete the trip. locals were pleasant, helpful, & courteous. not too often you get to ride a bike onto a lake!
I rode the trail in June 2023 starting in St Albans and went 13 miles out and back. I don't know if the flooding affected the trail since I am not from the area but it was a good ride at that time. The surface is crushed stone and was in good condition and the scenery is mostly farming country. I did see an osprey nesting on the bridge at Swanton. Gentle steady grade the whole time and I was able to keep up a steady pace. I hope the trail is OK now.
Just completed this trail and had a great tome. We have mtn bikes and had zero issues (not really for road bikes). There were some ATV and dirt bike riders on the lower part of the trail, but all were respectful and slowed down around us and for a Saturday it really wasn’t busy and we had the trail to ourselves most of the time. I would definitely recommend and do again.
Epic trail. Green Mountains in one side Adirondack Mountains on the other. Lake Champlain in the middle and the bike trail. Includes a ferry ride.
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