Backpack Trail Guide

Trails / Vermont / Northern Green Mountains

Long Trail: Monroe Skyline (Lincoln Gap to Appalachian Gap)

Long Trail over Mount Abraham, Lincoln Peak, and Mount Ellen; Green Mountain National Forest, ski-area land, and state land (Lincoln, Warren, Fayston; Lincoln Gap Road to VT 17)

The Monroe Skyline is the high, rocky stretch of the Long Trail between Lincoln Gap and Appalachian Gap, crossing two of Vermont’s five 4,000-footers, Mount Abraham and Mount Ellen. The Green Mountain Club says it is named for Prof. Will S. Monroe, who led the effort to build this section in the 1910s.

The GMC lists it as an 11.5-mile point-to-point hike with 3,866 feet of climbing, best done “all day” or with a night on the ridge.

The hike

From Lincoln Gap, SectionHiker describes a climb of about 1,000 feet per mile, rocky and slick, to Battell Shelter. The GMC puts the shelter 1.7 miles from the gap and the summit of Mount Abraham, at 4,006 feet, 0.9 mile beyond, with “a few rocky scrambles” before treeline. The GMC says Abraham’s summit holds less than an acre of rare alpine vegetation and asks hikers to “walk only on rock.”

North of Abraham, Hiking Project lists Little Abe, Lincoln Peak, Nancy Hanks Peak, and Cutts Peak. SectionHiker describes the ridge from Abraham to Ellen as nearly flat but exposed, with big puddles and narrow trail crowded by wet evergreens. In the GMC’s mileages, Castlerock and Lincoln Peak come about 3 to 5 miles from Lincoln Gap and Mount Ellen about 6.3. Hiking Project says the trail skirts ski slopes on Ellen and leaves the national forest at its northern boundary. Past Orvis Lookout, the Barton Trail leads to Glen Ellen Lodge, a four-sided cabin with a small waterfall and a view, which the GMC suggests as an overnight near the halfway point.

The final miles drop toward Appalachian Gap. SectionHiker calls the 6 miles from Ellen to the gap steep, with ladders and two poorly blazed ski areas. The GMC lists General Stark Mountain (3,662 feet), Stark’s Nest at a Mad River Glen chairlift, and Theron Dean Shelter, 1.8 miles from Appalachian Gap. Hiking Project describes ladders and ledges down to Theron Dean and the short, technical Dean Cave Loop, which it suggests doing without your pack. The section ends at the Route 17 lot.

To the south is the Breadloaf Wilderness; to the north, the trail heads for Camel’s Hump.

Tips

Camping

The GMC says its overnight sites are free and first come, first served, each with a composting privy, and that tenting is prohibited above 2,500 feet. Overnight groups are limited to 10, including leaders. The GMC says the national forest covers the trail as far north as Mount Ellen, and state land begins there; Vermont’s state-land rules prohibit camping above 2,500 feet unless otherwise designated. Food storage is required on the national forest under a 2019 order and strongly encouraged elsewhere.

Inside Intel: On Views from the Top, one poster calls Battell Shelter “a great spot to spend a night” and notes it sits higher than most Long Trail shelters; another says it’s in good shape with water. SectionHiker stopped there early on his 2008 trip, at 3:45 p.m. Glen Ellen Lodge gets praise as a “very nice lodge” on the same forum.

Trail facts

The Lowdown

A hot drink on the Abraham-to-Ellen ridge:

SectionHiker crossed this exposed ridge in drizzle with temperatures in the low 60s, the kind of day a quick stove brew helps. See the stoves reviewers like.

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Where this comes from

This page draws on the sources below, along with other guides and trip reports. Links go to the original pages.

Before you go: This page is based on published trail guides, trip reports, and reviews, along with official park and agency information where we could find it. It’s meant to help backpackers discover new trails, not to replace current, official information. Conditions, closures, permits, campsites, and water sources change, and some details here may be out of date or wrong. Confirm everything with the managing agency and check current conditions before you head out, and don’t rely on this page alone for safety or navigation. Backcountry travel involves risk.