{{Short description|Hiking trail in U.S. state of Vermont}} {{Other uses}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}} {{Infobox hiking trail | name = Long Trail | photo = Camels hump111.jpg | caption = [[Camel's Hump]] from the Long Trail | location = [[Vermont]], [[United States]] | designation = | length_mi = 273 | trailheads = | use = Hiking, Snowshoeing | elev_change = | highest = [[Mount Mansfield]] | lowest = [[Winooski River]] at [[Jonesville, Vermont|Jonesville]] | difficulty = Moderate to Strenuous | season = Late spring through late fall | months = | sights = | hazards = | map = {{Maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|type=line}} }}

The '''Long Trail''' is a hiking [[trail]] located in [[Vermont]], running the length of the state. It is the oldest [[long-distance trail]] in the [[United States]],<ref>[https://www.greenmountainclub.org/the-long-trail/ Green Mountain Club: "The Long Trail"]</ref> constructed between 1910 and 1930 by the [[Green Mountain Club]] (GMC). The club remains the primary organization responsible for the trail, and is recognized by the [[Vermont General Assembly|state legislature]] as "the founder, sponsor, defender, and protector" of the Long Trail System.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2000/acts/actr238.htm|title=No. R-238. Joint Resolution to Celebrate the 90th Birthday of the Green Mountain Club and the Birth of the Long Trail. |work=Acts of the 1999-2000 Vermont Legislature |publisher= Vermont Legislature |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806021215/http://www.leg.state.vt.us/docs/2000/acts/actr238.htm |archive-date= Aug 6, 2017 }}</ref> The long trail sees 410,000 people annually. <ref>{{Cite web |title=Economic Impact of Vermont Trails |url=https://www.greenmountainclub.org/about/economic-impact-of-vermont-trails/ |access-date=2025-10-13 |website=Green Mountain Club |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History== The Long Trail was conceived in 1909 by James P. Taylor who was at the time the assistant headmaster of [[Vermont Academy]] in [[Saxtons River, Vermont]]. Taylor lobbied other Vermont residents who shared his dream of a mission to "make the Vermont mountains play a larger part in the life of the people by protecting and maintaining the Long Trail system and fostering, through education, the stewardship of Vermont's hiking trails and mountains". On March 11, 1910, Taylor and twenty-five others met at the Van Ness House in [[Burlington, Vermont]] for the first meeting of the Green Mountain Club<ref>The Vermonter magazine, April 1910</ref> In 1912,<ref>{{Cite web |title=A FOOTPATH IN THE WILDERNESS: THE HISTORY OF THE LONG TRAIL |url=https://vermonthistory.org/client_media/images/exhibits/Long%20Trail%20Exhibit.pdf |website=vermonthistory.org}}</ref> work began on the construction of America's first long-distance hiking path. The GMC completed the Long Trail in 1930.

==Geography==

The Long Trail runs 273 miles (439&nbsp;km) through the state of Vermont. It starts at the [[Massachusetts]] state line (at [[Clarksburg, Massachusetts]]), and runs north to the [[Canada–United States border|Canada–US border]] (in [[Jay, Vermont]]). It runs along the main ridge of the [[Green Mountains]], coinciding with the [[Appalachian Trail]] (for which it served as the inspiration) for roughly {{convert|100|mi|km}} in the southern third of the state. About {{convert|23|mi|km}}, from Maine Junction to Sucker Brook, coincide with the [[North Country National Scenic Trail]]. Additionally, over {{convert|175|mi|km}} of side trails complete the Long Trail System.<ref>[http://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=2 Green Mountain Club - The Long Trail: Vermont's "Footpath in the Wilderness"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220060905/http://www.greenmountainclub.org/page.php?id=2 |date=2007-12-20 }}</ref><ref name="GMC Long Trail map">{{cite map |author=Green Mountain Club |author-link=Green Mountain Club |title=Vermont's Long Trail: A Footpath in the Wilderness |trans-title= |map= |map-url= |date= |year=2015 |url= |type=Topographic map |scale=1:85,000 |series= |publisher= |cartography=Center for Community GIS |page= |pages= |section= |sections= |inset= |edition=5th |location= |language= |format= |isbn=978-1-888021-46-2 |id= |access-date= }}</ref>

The Long Trail passes through six of the eight [[National Wilderness Preservation System#Wilderness areas|wilderness areas]] in the [[Green Mountain National Forest]], including (from south to north) [[Glastenbury Wilderness]], [[Lye Brook Wilderness]], [[Peru Peak Wilderness]], [[Big Branch Wilderness]], [[Joseph Battell Wilderness]], and [[Breadloaf Wilderness]]. It traverses most of the major summits in the Green Mountains, including (from south to north) [[Glastenbury Mountain]], [[Stratton Mountain (Vermont)|Stratton Mountain]], [[Killington Peak]], [[Mount Abraham (Vermont)|Mount Abraham]], [[Mount Ellen (Vermont)|Mount Ellen]], [[Camel's Hump (Vermont)|Camel's Hump]], [[Mount Mansfield]], and [[Jay Peak (Vermont)|Jay Peak]].

==Maintenance==

The Long Trail is maintained primarily by the Green Mountain Club and its volunteers. Twelve club sections maintain assigned sections of the Long Trail &ndash; two other club sections maintain the trails in Vermont's [[Northeast Kingdom]] and the Appalachian Trail from Maine Junction in Killington to the Connecticut River. Although roughly 1,000 volunteers perform most of the club's trail work, the club also employs a staff to handle day-to-day operations and a seasonal staff of summit caretakers and the Long Trail Patrol which works on heavy duty projects on the trail. The Green Mountain Club also receives assistance from the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation, [[United States Forest Service|U.S. Forest Service]], [[National Park Service]], [[Appalachian Trail Conservancy]], and private landowners. During the mud season in late spring, some sections of the trail are closed to hikers, to protect the trail from both erosion and to protect nearby flora from being damaged (especially the higher peaks that possess fragile alpine tundra). [[File:Long Trail.jpg|alt=This is a section of the Long Trail. Taken during the Summer time, the trees are dark green and the path is a rich brown.|thumb|Section of the Long Trail]]

==Historical disappearances==

The section of the Long Trail between Woodford (on Vermont State Route 9 just east of Bennington, Vt) and [[Glastenbury Mountain]] some {{convert|10|mi|km}} farther north has gained notoriety because six people vanished in that area between 1945 and 1950. Only one body was found and the fates of the other missing persons remain a mystery.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marshall|first1=Richard|title=Mysteries of the unexplained|url=https://archive.org/details/mysteriesofunexp00mars_0|url-access=registration|date=1982|publisher=Reader's Digest Association|location=Pleasantville, N.Y.|isbn=0895771462|edition=Repr. with amendments|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mysteriesofunexp00mars_0/page/130 130]–131}}</ref>

The case that perhaps gained the most media attention at the time was the disappearance of 18-year-old [[Bennington College]] sophomore [[Paula Jean Welden]], of [[Stamford, Connecticut]], (elder daughter of industrial designer William Archibald Welden of the [[Revere Copper Company|Revere Copper and Brass Company]]). On the afternoon of Sunday, December 1, 1946, she set out on a hike by herself on the Long Trail from Woodford Hollow heading northbound in the direction of Glastenbury Mountain. Despite repeated and extensive searches of the area by local police, the [[National Guard of the United States|National Guard]] and many volunteers, nothing was ever found.<ref name="charley_project">{{cite web|url=http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/welden_paula.html|title=Paula Jean Welden|work=The Charley Project|accessdate=2009-07-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212022421/http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/welden_paula.html|archive-date=2009-12-12|url-status=dead}}</ref> Foul play is suspected in her disappearance.<ref>Dooling, Michael C. Clueless in New England: The Unsolved Disappearances of Paula Welden, Connie Smith, and Katherine Hull. The Carrollton Press, 2010.</ref>

Crime novelist [[Hillary Waugh]] based his book ''[[Last Seen Wearing ... (Hillary Waugh novel)|Last Seen Wearing]]'' on the Welden case.

==Gallery== <gallery widths="200px" perrow="3"> File:BakerPeakVermont.jpg|Baker Peak in the [[White Rocks National Recreation Area]] File:LittleRockPond_VT.jpg|Little Rock Pond from the Long Trail File:The Chin of Mount Mansfield, June 2007.jpg|View of [[Mount Mansfield]] from the Long Trail </gallery>

==See also== * [[Long Trail State Forest]] * [[Long Path]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://www.trailjournals.com/journals/The_Long_Trail_-_Vermont Journals and photographs from people hiking The Long Trail.]

{{Vermont hiking trails}}

[[Category:Hiking trails in Vermont]] [[Category:Long-distance trails in the United States]] [[Category:Culture of Vermont]] [[Category:National Recreation Trails in Vermont]] [[Category:Protected areas of Addison County, Vermont]] [[Category:Protected areas of Bennington County, Vermont]] [[Category:Protected areas of Orleans County, Vermont]] [[Category:Protected areas of Windham County, Vermont]] [[Category:Protected areas of Rutland County, Vermont]] [[Category:Protected areas of Chittenden County, Vermont]]