HARDWICK, Vt. (AP) — A year after epic summer flooding delayed the official opening of New England’s longest rail trail, the 93-mile route across northern Vermont is finally delivering on the promise made years ago of a cross-state recreation trail. The Lamoille Valley Rail Trail is open to cyclists, hikers, horseback riders and other non-motorized uses between Swanton, in northwestern Vermont near Lake Champlain, and St.
Johnsbury, not far from the Connecticut River border with New Hampshire. In the winter, the trail is open to snowmobiles as well as skiers and snowshoers. One section of flood-damaged trail from 2023 flood remains to be repaired, but there is a posted detour.
also closed some sections, but most of the trail weathered the storm. Updates are at The trail goes through 18 communities and includes the , which had been the last working covered railroad bridge in the country, in Wolcott. “I have ridden in 48 of the 50 states.
And this is right up in the top with some of the most amazing ones,” said Marianne Borowski, founder of the Cross New Hampshire Adventure Trail. She’s part of a group trying to extend the Vermont trail 35 miles to the state line, where it would connect to trails in the Granite State. “It drips with New England charm,” Borowski said.
“It’s just so Vermont, it’s so beautiful. It’s got forests and fields and farms and rivers and streams and wetlands and, you know, rail cuts and cows — I mean it’s just got everything.” .