🥾 ActiveWeekend · from Boston, MA
Green Mountains Ridge & Connecticut River Valley
Vermont's Green Mountains offer the most underrated hiking in New England — trails that rival the White Mountains in scenery but see a fraction of the foot traffic. Mount Mansfield at 4,393 feet is Vermont's highest peak; the Long Trail's ridge section above Stowe delivers a mile of continuous above-treeline walking. Day two descends to the Connecticut River Valley's covered bridge circuit and Dartmouth College's river town.
Day 1 — Stowe, VTDay 2 — Hanover, NH
Day 1 — Stowe, VT
Day 1 — Stowe, VT
🚗 3 hr 35 min driving📍 5 stops
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Morning
🚗
Drive
Boston, MA → Mount Mansfield
3 hr 15 min8:00 AM → 11:15 AM
Drive north via I-93, I-89, and VT-100 to Stowe.
Mount Mansfield — Long Trail Ridge Walk
Vermont's highest point at 4,393 feet is reached via the Sunset Ridge Trail (4.8 miles RT from Underhill) or the toll road to the Nose (4,395 ft) followed by the half-mile ridge walk to the Chin summit. The ridge is above treeline and exposed — a half-mile of open quartzite with views of Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks, and on clear days, Montreal. The Long Trail's oldest section, cut in 1910.
11:15 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
🚗
Drive
Mount Mansfield → The Alchemist Brewery
20 min12:15 PM → 12:35 PM
The Alchemist Brewery
★ 4.7The home of Heady Topper — a double IPA rated among the best beers in the world by BeerAdvocate since 2011, available only at the brewery and select Vermont retailers. The Stowe taproom opened in 2016 after 13 years of the original Waterbury brewpub; the production facility is visible through the taproom windows, and the food menu is designed to match the hop-forward beer program.
12:35 PM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
Stowe Recreation Path
A 5.3-mile paved path following the West Branch River through the village of Stowe and out toward the ski resort base — the best afternoon flat walk in Vermont, flanked by meadows, covered bridges, and the Cady Brook wetland. Bicycle rentals are available in town; the path connects to the network of trails at the Trapp Family Lodge above the valley.
1:35 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🍽️ Dinner5:00 PM
Hen of the Wood — Stowe
A restaurant in a converted 19th-century grist mill on the Waterbury Reservoir, from the same team as the flagship Burlington location. The menu is Vermont farm-focused: wood-roasted root vegetables, Misty Knoll chicken, aged local beef, and foraged mushrooms. The room — stone walls, timber beams, a fireplace — is the best dining setting in northern Vermont.
4 options · tap to switch
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Trapp Family Lodge
The only Austrian chalet resort in North America, founded by the von Trapp family in 1950 on 2,500 acres of hillside above Stowe village. The main lodge is a replica Austrian chalet built after the original burned; the property includes cross-country ski trails, a brewery, and a biergarten with views of the main ski mountain.
Day 2 — Hanover, NH
Day 2 — Hanover, NH
🚗 4 hr 25 min driving📍 4 stops
🌅
Morning
🚗
Drive
Stowe, VT → Hanover, NH
1 hr 30 min8:00 AM → 9:30 AM
Drive east via I-89 through Montpelier and across the Connecticut River to Hanover.
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Drive
Hanover, NH → Holts Ledge Trailhead, Lyme, NH
15 min9:30 AM → 9:45 AM
Appalachian Trail — Holts Ledge
★ 4.7A superb day hike from Lyme, NH along the Appalachian Trail to Holts Ledge (2,100 ft) — a 4.4-mile round trip through hardwood forest with stunning views across the Connecticut River Valley to Vermont's Green Mountains. The ledge is a nesting site for peregrine falcons, adding a wildlife dimension to the summit payoff.
9:45 AM📍 See location
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Lunch
Lou's Restaurant & Bakery
★ 4.6A Hanover institution since 1947 occupying the same Main Street location, with breakfast and lunch served from 6 AM to 3 PM by a staff that knows the Dartmouth community's multi-generational regulars by name. The challah French toast and the soups — made from scratch daily — are the kitchen's perpetual anchors.
10:45 AM📍 See location
☀️
Afternoon
🚗
Drive
Hanover, NH → Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge
20 min12:00 PM → 12:20 PM
Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge
★ 4.8The longest wooden covered bridge in the US and the longest two-span covered bridge in the world, crossing the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont at 460 feet. Built in 1866 and reinforced through two major restorations, it carries one-lane vehicle traffic on a timer system. The town of Cornish below was a summer colony for Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Maxfield Parrish, and Winston Churchill's American in-laws.
12:20 PM📍 See location
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Drive
Cornish-Windsor Covered Bridge → Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
5 min1:20 PM → 1:25 PM
Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park
★ 4.8The summer home and studio of Augustus Saint-Gaudens, America's greatest 19th-century sculptor, preserved on 150 acres above the Connecticut River. The property includes the sculptor's original studios, the casts of his major works — the Shaw Memorial, the Standing Lincoln, the Adams Memorial — and a concert series each August that has run since 1945.
1:25 PM📍 See location
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Evening
🚗
Drive
Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park → Boston, MA
2 hr 15 min5:00 PM → 7:15 PM
Return via I-89 and I-93 south through Concord and Manchester.
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