Smugglers Notch

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Smugglers Notch
Elevation 660 metres (2,170 ft)
Location Lamoille County, Vermont, Flag of the United States United States
Range Green Mountains
Coordinates 44°33.32′N 72°47.74′W / 44.55533, -72.79567Coordinates: 44°33.32′N 72°47.74′W / 44.55533, -72.79567
Topo map USGS Mount Mansfield
Traversed by Vermont Route 108

see also Smugglers' Notch Ski Resort

Smugglers Notch (or Smugglers' or Smuggler's) is a mountain pass in Lamoille County, Vermont. The notch separates Mount Mansfield, the highest peak of the Green Mountains, from Spruce Peak and the Sterling Range. Most of the notch is in Mount Mansfield State Forest.

North of the height of land, Smugglers Notch is drained by the Brewster River, which drains into the Lamoille River, and into Lake Champlain. To the south, the notch is drained by the West Branch Waterbury River, thence into the Little River, the Winooski River, and into Lake Champlain. In turn, Lake Champlain drains into the Richelieu River in Québec, thence into the Saint Lawrence River, and into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

The Long Trail, a 272-mile (438-km) hiking trail running the length of Vermont, traverses Smugglers Notch. The trail down from the summit of Mt. Mansfield to the west reaches the road south of the height of the pass, and resumes about a mile and a half north on the former Sterling Pond Trail, climbing east to the summit of Madonna Peak.

Smugglers' Notch ski area, located on the north side of the mountains on the northeast side of the pass, takes its name from the pass. Stowe Mountain Resort straddles the southern end of the pass, with developments on both Mt. Mansfield and Spruce Peak.

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