Smugglers Notch Summit — VT-108
The high point of Vermont Route 108 through Smugglers Notch is one of the most dramatic mountain-pass experiences in New England. At roughly 1,750 feet the road narrows to a single lane squeezed between towering cliff faces on Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak, with boulders the size of houses tumbled across the roadside. A small pull-off near the summit allows riders to stop, walk among the glacially deposited rocks, and look up at the sheer walls overhead. The pass connects Stowe to Jeffersonville and is closed to vehicles from late fall through late spring — check VTrans seasonal closure notices before riding. No commercial traffic is permitted; motorcycles, cars, and bicycles only.
The notch cuts between Mount Mansfield — the highest peak in the Green Mountains — and Spruce Peak, squeezing VT-108 into a single-lane corridor flanked by cliff walls that rise nearly 1,000 feet on each side. Massive boulders, deposited by glacial action, crowd the roadside and in places spill right to the edge of the pavement. At the pull-off near the summit, you can kill the engine, step off the bike, and stand among those rocks while looking straight up at the walls above — it's the kind of scale that takes a moment to actually register.
The pass connects Stowe to Jeffersonville and is closed to vehicles from mid-October through mid-May — the road is too steep and narrow to plow. Before planning a trip, check VTrans seasonal closure notices. No commercial traffic is permitted on the segment; the state also prohibits single vehicles over 40 feet and any combination vehicle over 45 feet, which means the traffic you'll share the lane with is cars, motorcycles, and bicycles only. The notch gets busy on summer weekends and during fall foliage season, so an early-morning weekday run is the practical move.
The name comes from the smugglers who used this pass to move goods across the Canadian border — first during the hardship caused by the Embargo Act of 1807, and again during Prohibition after the route was improved for automobile traffic. That history is baked into the rock; the caves and spaces between the boulders near the summit were used as hideaways for contraband. Worth a few minutes on foot before you ride out the other side.
VT-108 through the notch is on every Vermont motorcycle bucket list — extremely tight hairpin turns, near-zero visibility on bends, towering cliff walls, and a single-lane summit corridor. The drama is the entire point. Hit it early morning on a weekday to avoid tourist traffic. The road itself is the attraction; the stop at the top is the punctuation.
Shot by the riders who've run it.
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