Smugglers' Notch earns its name honestly. When President Jefferson's Embargo Act closed trade with Britain and Canada in 1807, the people of northern Vermont, who had been trading across the border for years, kept the goods moving through this narrow pass in the Green Mountains, and the same gap served the whisky runners in the days of Prohibition. A road now crosses it, State Route 108, but it feels as if it has been squeezed in rather than built, a ribbon of tarmac wriggling between huge boulders at the foot of Mount Mansfield and Spruce Peak.
The Notch is a deep cleft, with cliffs rising on either side and the road threading between them in a series of tight hairpins, in places barely wide enough for two vehicles. Blocks of stone, some as big as houses, have fallen from the walls over thousands of years, and the road weaves around them. There are caves and rock formations with names such as the Elephant's Head and Smugglers Cave, and short trails lead off into the woods. Trucks, trailers and buses are banned, which makes it one of the more pleasant roads in the state for a motorcycle, and the surface, though patched, is generally good.
It is a narrow, slow road, and you will want to take your time. The bends are blind, the hairpins are tight, and the drops on the outside are real, with only a low wall or none at all. Tourists stop in the middle of the road to look, and walkers wander along the verge, so the whole thing is a lesson in patience. The road is closed in winter, from the first heavy snow until late spring, so the season for riding is short, and check the state's road reports before you go.
Stowe is famous for skiing and has a lively main street, and its famous Von Trapp family lodge is a short ride away. In autumn, the road is crowded, so go early in the morning to have it to yourself.