Smugglers' Notch, Where the Road Squeezes Through the Mountains

Between Stowe and Jeffersonville, the road threads through Smugglers' Notch, a narrow mountain pass where the pavement squeezes between towering cliffs and house-sized boulders. It is one of the most dramatic stretches of road in Vermont, and one of the tightest.

The scenery is spectacular and the geology ancient — sheer rock walls rising hundreds of feet, cool air pooling in the shadowed cleft, and hiking trails that climb to hidden caves and ledges. The pass earned its name from a long history of clandestine travel, and that outlaw past adds a whiff of romance to an already striking place.

The road through the notch closes in winter, too narrow and steep to keep clear of snow, which turns it into a quiet playground for skiers and snowshoers in the cold months. In summer and fall it reopens to cars inching around its famous hairpin turns, where large vehicles regularly get stuck to the amusement of onlookers. However you come to it, the notch is a reminder that in Vermont the mountains still, in places, dictate the terms.