Smugglers' Notch, Vermont fall foliage

Smugglers’ Notch is a narrow pass between Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, and Spruce Peak and the Sterling Range, with cliffs rising nearly 1,000 feet above the road and giant boulders scattered through the woods. It takes its name from the early 1800s, when Vermonters used it to move goods and livestock to and from Canada in defiance of the Embargo Act of 1807. Smugglers’ Notch State Park sits on the Stowe side of the pass, and several trails start near the top, including a steep trail that climbs about 900 feet to Sterling Pond, a small mountain pond. Because the notch is so high, it typically peaks about a week before Stowe in the valley below.

Route 108 is the drive: it climbs from Stowe through the notch and down the other side to Jeffersonville, narrowing to a single lane with tight hairpin turns among the boulders at the top. It isn’t suited to large RVs or trailers, and it is a seasonal road that closes for winter. For a loop, continue from Jeffersonville east on Route 15 to Morrisville, then take Route 100 south back to Stowe.