Trail Alert - Green Mountain National Forest Closed - updated 9/30/2011

Hikers: A statement has been issued on 9/1/2011 temporarily closing Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont due to the Hurricane damage. No hiker entrance permitted. This would affect both the Appalachian Trail and the Long Trail. See links below -

Green Mountain NF Closure Notice 

Green Mountain National Forest Status Report of damage and closures to roads and facilities 

Other updates (9/2/11) for New York (including the Catskills and Adirondacks) and New Jersey can be found on the updated Hurricane Irene blog entry.  

Update - 9/6/2011

Check the Green Mountain Club website for updated status reports. The National Forest at this time is still closed.

Update - 9/16/11 from Laurie at the ATC

Opened now in Vermont:


An 18-mile continuous section:

• 86.8 – 104.2 Vt. 103 (just north of Clarendon Gorge) to US 4 (Killington/Rutland)

As best we can determine from GMNF closure maps, several small pieces of the A.T. throughout the state are also closed. Though these pieces are short, in some cases long-distance hikers may potentially need to miss much longer sections to get around them. We do not yet have specific re-route information. Trailhead closure postings will be the most accurate source of info; the information below is only our best reading of the maps and should not be considered definitive.

Short pieces that are closed:

• 51.6 - Spruce Peak Shelter area
• 54.4 Vt. 11 & 30 possibly a mile from road heading south
• 70.9 Big Branch Shelter and possibly from there 0.3 north to Danby-Landgrove Rd. (USFS 10)
• 109.7 - 109.9 Thundering Falls Boardwalk
• 127. 9 - Vt. 12 parking area and A.T. immediately south -- bridge is out over Gulf Stream

Numbers above are distances from the Massachusetts/Vermont line.

The official press release with more information and closure maps can be found at http://bit.ly/GMNFpartialOpeningPostIrene.

Both the Thundering Fall boardwalk and the bridge and parking area at Vt. 12 were damaged significantly by Tropical Storm Irene and will not be open anytime soon.

Many roads accessing the A.T. are closed.

9/30/2011  Update on Green Mtn National Forest - most open but 18 mile section of AT still closed.