Smugglers' Notch, VT-108

Driving

by Plot Along: Northeast

Vermont Route 108 squeezes through Smugglers' Notch, a narrow pass between Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont, and Spruce Peak, where the road threads single-file between thousand-foot cliffs and boulders that have tumbled into the gap. It's so tight that tractor-trailers and tour buses are banned, and they still get stuck every year. The curves bend right around house-sized rocks like Elephant's Head.

The name is real history. During Jefferson's 1808 trade embargo, and again during Prohibition, the notch was a smuggling route for goods and liquor moving between Canada and the U.S. Today it links the resort town of Stowe on the south side to Jeffersonville on the north.

The notch section of VT-108 closes every winter, usually late October through May, and is not plowed. The rest of the year it's a slow crawl through the gap. Fully paved. Watch for cyclists and pedestrians at the height of the notch.

Learn more: en.wikipedia.org

Stowe
The south end of the drive, Vermont's marquee resort town, where VT-108 (the Mountain Road) heads up toward the notch past Stowe Mountain Resort.
Bingham Falls
From the trailhead lot on VT-108, a short trail drops to a series of falls and a deep emerald pool in a hemlock gorge. The last easy stop before the road narrows into the notch.
Smugglers' Notch
The height of the pass, where the road squeezes single-file between cliffs beneath Elephant's Head and a jumble of fallen boulders. The tightest point of the drive, and a dead stop for any truck that ignored the warnings.
Jeffersonville
The northern end in the Lamoille valley, where VT-108 comes off the mountain near Smugglers' Notch Resort and the road opens back up.

Stowe

Bingham Falls

Smugglers' Notch

Jeffersonville