Experience Burlington from Coast to Coast.
Imagine a path that takes you from the winding Winooski River to the sweeping vistas over Lake Champlain. The 9.5-mile Burlington Wildways Trail does exactly that, weaving through some of the most vibrant natural corridors in the heart of the City.
A foot trail with stunning views of Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks, and the Green Mountains, on this trail you’ll find yourself under the cathedral-like canopy of floodplain forests one moment and standing on a rocky Lake Champlain overlook the next. Designed for connectivity and user experience, the trail highlights many of Burlington’s cultural and natural features.
Established by the Burlington Wildways partnership, this trail seeks to make the wild places of Burlington more welcoming and accessible. Whether you’re using our interactive online map or following the physical trail blazes, we invite you to step outside and rediscover the wild in your own backyard.
Why a connected trail?
Strength in Partnership By working together, we make greater strides toward our shared goals. The Burlington Wildways trail physically links our partner organizations while traversing beautiful natural areas and working landscapes. This trail is more than just a path; it represents our collective commitment to stewardship, ecological sensitivity, and high-quality trail design.
Our Commitment to the Land Our partnership strives to continually refine Burlington’s trail network. Through our combined efforts, we invest in professional trail building, remove redundant or damaging paths, and improve wayfinding signage. We are also working to make the outdoors more inclusive by providing detailed digital information and prioritizing accessible features on the ground.
Get Involved There is always more to do and we need your help. Join us as a volunteer steward to keep our wild places welcoming, or consider making a donation to fund projects that make a lasting difference in our community.
What Might You Discover?
More than just a path, this trail is a window into what makes Burlington special. You’ll encounter the diverse landscapes, local history, and rich ecosystems that make this place feel like no other, and yet familiar to anyone who loves Vermont.
Natural History
The Salmon Hole
A beautiful place to watch the waters cascade down the Winooski River. Look for wildlife such as ducks, otters, and beavers, or try your hand at fishing. Dark red rocks jut into the river just below the Lower Falls Dam, where steelheads, walleye, and, in the fall, landlocked Atlantic salmon fight their way upriver to their spawning grounds.
Sea Caves
The Sea Caves at Arthur Park are now best explored when winter ice in the wetland is thick and safe for skating or walking across. These formations are a remnant of a time when Lake Champlain was once a much larger and deeper inland sea, known as the Champlain Sea.
The Champlain Thrust Fault
A world-renowned thrust fault exposure consisting of two types of bedrock, inverted with the older layer atop the younger– a result of the Taconic Orogeny.
Wetlands Walk at the Ethan Allen Homestead
[Currently closed for repairs]
As you walk along the Homestead’s elevated boardwalk through a cattail marsh, listen for early spring peepers and wood frogs, and keep an eye out for signs of beavers and the variety of other life that call this wetland home.
Champlain Beachgrass
Protected by a fence and marked with signage grows a relic of the Champlain Sea. Champlain beachgrass, a sub-species of the American beachgrass is the result of geographic speciation. This is one of few populations left, so see if you can find it and read about it on the interpretive panel.
Cultural Highlights
Ten Thousand Years of Agriculture in Burlington's Intervale
At the Tommy Thompson Community Garden picnic grove, you can find a series of beautifully illustrated interpretive panels detailing Ten Thousand Years of Agriculture in the Burlington Intervale. This project was advised by state archaeologist Jess Robinson, beautifully illustrated by Glynnis Fawkes, and made possible by funding from the Lake Champlain Basin Program.
The Ethan Allen Homestead
The Homestead is a hub of activity and hosts the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum and gardens, Alnôbaiwi visitor’s center, a picnic shelter, the Burlington Area Community Gardens, New Farms for New Americans, and the office of the Winooski Valley Park District.
Interpretation
Rock Point Center for Nature & Spirituality
The Center is a place for scientific learning and spiritual connection. It features an indoor visitor center, regular exhibits, and abundant programs.
Urban Agriculture
The Intervale Center
For 35 years, The Intervale Center has tended a 360-acre campus of farmland, trails and open space along the Winooski River in Burlington, VT while leading the community food revolution. They’ve pioneered game-changing initiatives like community-supported agriculture (CSA), large-scale composting, food hubs and farm incubators. They continue to innovate so that more good food is available for anyone who wants it.
Burlington Area Community Gardens
For over 50 years Burlington area residents have come together to sow seeds, tend rows and harvest rewards. The Burlington Area Community Gardens (BACG) program is comprised of 14 garden sites across the Burlington area. Sites range from small neighborhood plots to larger sites with multiple acres of available plots.
Garden sites can be found at several places along the length of the trail.
New Farms for New Americans
A community-based gardening and agriculture program for refugees and immigrants. NFNA provides education and training for farmers who are new to the U.S. and may be unaccustomed to Vermont's climate. With long agrarian traditions including organic practices, food preservation, and seed saving, NFNA's farmers have so much to teach and share with the Vermont agricultural community.
Garden sites can be found at several places along the length of the trail.
Viewsheds
Ethan Allen Park Tower and Pinnacle
Ethan Allen Park was one of the first public forest parks in the country and today remains a great place to go on a hike or bike ride. Two great viewpoints top the park: Ethan Allen Tower which sits like a giant rook on the ridge, and the Pinnacle which features a gazebo at the highest point in the park.
Rock Point
Rock Point is a remarkable landscape of ecological and spiritual significance—a sanctuary for both wildlife and people. It is home to rare and fragile plant species, upland, wetland, and cliff habitats for wildlife, and one of the most visible exposures of the Champlain Thrust Fault in North America.
Take the Holy Trinity Trail and the Sunset Ridge Trail along the cliffs of Rock Point for intermittent designated look out points to enjoy the spectacular view over Lake Champlain.
