Jay Pass to Journey's End via Long Trail (Jay State Forest)

Jay Pass to Journey's End via Long Trail (Jay State Forest)

Hike Type: Traverse

Distance: 13.46 miles

Elevation: 3,881 feet

My Time: 11 hours, 1 minute (8 hours, 42 minutes moving)

Book Time: 8 hours, 40 minutes

Parking: Parking for 15-20 cars at Jay Pass (VT-242). Limited parking for ~5 cars at Journey's End.
Hiking Challenges: 52 Hike Challenge 2026, Long Trail Side-to-Side, Operation Alaska Bechmark Challenge

The Hike 

It's FINALLY time to hike to Canada! Emma and I have been talking about this hike for literal years, but every time we'd plan on it the weather would have a different plan. Our alarms went off at 5:00am and we were out the door at 5:30am. We stopped at Maplefields for provisions, including a few breakfast sandwiches for me. It was fun to drive past Jay again! Journey's End Road was no problem at all sans a few avoidable pot holes - it even looked recently maintained. 

We dropped Emma's car at Journey's End, making sure to leave flip flops and apres clothes with her car and then we had a quick drive back to Jay. Naturally, I had a small (massive) code brown once we got back on VT-242, so we revisited the Stateside Hotel and my favorite single-stall bathroom to say hello. To our shock, the mountain was looking FULL - apparently it was a trail race day, so we started mentally prepping to see MANY people. 

Jay Pass on VT-242 was foggy and spooky and thankfully not busy at all. It was a cool 53 degrees out with a breeze. We finished getting suited up, we carefully crossed the road, and then our adventure had officially begun!

[7:23am - Start of Hike]

[7:26am - Long Trail (north)/Register Book]

We entered the woods and immediately passed an aid station/turn around point for the trail race - they gave us a warning, but insisted that everyone would be well behaved to us! A few minutes later we made it to the trail register, which Emma signed as the good hiker she is, and then we turned left onto the Jay Loop to see what was over there (last time we hiked Jay, six years ago, we took the Long Trail all the way up).

[7:27am - Jay Loop]

The Jay Loop was a flat, blue-blazed trail that traversed beautiful woods. The fog was still strong and the morning was quiet and spooky. There were a few autumnal leaves on the ground, which was also a delight!

[7:33am - Jay Loop/Jay Camp]

The flat trail continued all the way to the Jay Camp, which had a tent platform and then a cabin. There were a few people doing their morning chores at teh camp, so we didn't stick around too long to bother them. Emma told me about a patroller who always stays at the cabin for their fall ski patrol refresher, which made sense knowing who it was!

From the Jay Camp, the trail turned right and started climbing uphill. It was mostly moderate with a few flats and a few steeps. We were officially sweating! The woods were wet and a little slippery, but overall very pretty.

[7:43am - Long Trail (north)]

After a bit of climbing we turned left onto the Long Trail (north). We were still fully in a cloud, but at least the trail was wider now! It was cool and very quiet up here... that was, until we crossed paths with the first trail runner, who was running towards VT-242. Emma guess we'd see 15 between him and the summit - I guessed 13. 

It's fun hiking this mountain after skiing it SO many times. The Long Trail turned left and the trail race continued straight on a footpath that popped out at the end of the Vermonter ski trail/near the Montrealer's chute. 

From here, the Long Trail got rockier and steeper, eventually transitioning to rockier and slabbier. We paralleled the Vermonter ski trail the whole way. Sometimes it would be in view through the trees, and other times we felt we were deep in the woods. We were wet from sweat and even more wet from the cloud, but spirits were high! I am in MUCH better shape than the last time I climbed up Jay, so it was pretty much smooth sailing!

[8:40am - Vermonter Ski Trail]

After some more climbing, we climbed some awkward stairs over snowmaking pipes and popped out onto my beloved Vermonter ski trail! The Long Trail continued across the Vermonter and into the woods, but we had both hiked the ridge before and since we were in a cloud we decided to just follow the Vermonter up, which rose easily to the Sky Haus. The ground was squishy but not horrible, and the clouds were THICK.

[8:50am - Jay Peak Summit]

Up top there was an aid station (nobody clapped for us!) and we climbed the stairs up onto the ridge. We poked around for a minute - I found two discs and a couple memorial stones and benches through the thick fog. We found a seat out of the cool breeze that overlooked the top aid station and the new Jay Peak summit sign for our snack (the aid station clapped for everybody else!). We ultimately ended up seeing only nine trail runners on the climb up - mostly because they left the Long Trail halfway up.

When we were too cold to keep sitting we packed it up and got off of the ridge. We took a quick luxury pee in the Sky Haus and got a bathroom mirror picture and then a selfie with the summit sign before heading on down. I never noticed a sign of arrows pointing to Mt. Mansfield, Lake Memphremagog, Lake Champlain, and Mt. Washington before - how fun!

[9:27am - Long Trail (north)-Sis Boom Bah Ski Trail]

We continued along the Long Trail northbound, which now paralleled the Sis Boom Bah ski trail (one of my hanging chads becuase it is always closed). We passed some really cool purple flowers that Seek can't seem to poshumously identify, and then we carefully worked out way down the steep, slippery, wet trail. I did manage to take one decent slip and fall, which hurt my ego but that's all! My butt did NOT touch because my foot folded in a wildly unnatural position. A good number of trail runners ran past us in this stretch.

[9:33am - Long Trail (north) Enters Woods]

At the bottom of Sis Boom Bah we turned right onto the Northway ski trail and then immediately zig-zagged through a snow fence into the woods. We passed a "VT 105 7.4 MI." sign and a large warning sign that read (at first in French, and then in English below):

"Attention: Approaching the Big Jay Area of Jay State Forest

The Big Jay and Black Falls Tracts of the Jay State Forest were conserved by the Green Mountain Club and the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation with the assistance of the Vermont Houseing and Conservation Board and others. The high-elevation forest is a special natural community and is home to the rare Bicknell's thrush.

ILLEGAL CUTTING HAS SEVERELY DAMAGED THE FOREST AND WILDLIFE HABITAT. NO CUTTING OF TRAILS, TREES, DOWNED TREES, OR OTHER VEGETATION IS PERMITTED. VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECTURED."

Once we were back in the woods, we passed a very old "out of bounds" sign in these pretty, wet, and steep woods. We passed the herd path for the Big Jay herd path a few minutes later, and then the slow swim upstream began. We were ~20 feet behind a hiker for the next ~30 minutes, and they were SLOW minutes. Every minute more and more trail runners would be power hiking uphill. It was a little painful. Thankfully we had a series of four tee-hee's to keep us going:

1. The guy ahead of us turned around and carefully asked... "any idea where Big Jay is..." and we let him down gently.

2. We said "have fun!" to someone hiking up, they said "I don't think I am!"

3. At one point we hit a small opening in the trees and a guy gestured and said "Look! Through those clouds is a great view!"

4. An uphill trail runner let us pass her and said "I could use a break, I guess I was in better shape when I signed up for this!"

We noticed in this stretch we crossed paths with four REPEAT trail runners, which was crazy. We traversed a wet, flat stretch and then continued a steep descent until we began to near the ski trails. We could see an obstructed tree view out to what we think was Doll Peak and blue skies! Eventually, we crossed a snowmaking pipe and came to the bottom of the Ullr's Dream headwall (the turn that marks the start of Beaver Pond and Andre's Paradise), and it was absolutely beautiful out??

[10:09am - Long Trail (north)-Ullr's Dream Ski Trail]

We took our time gawking at how pretty it was at this spot. Skies overhead were blue and the meadows were flourishing. The summit was still (barely) in the clouds. We comically ran through feet of meadow growth to get a picture with the Beaver Pond/Andre's Paradise sign - one that we're planning to recreate in the winter. We also took a photo of a duo doing the trail race with a broken arm?? Crazy! We debated checking out the snowmaking pond, but we figured we still had a LOT of hiking to do, so it's best to keep on moving on.

[10:17am - Long Trail (north) Enters Woods]

We entered the woods along Andre's Paradise and followed the ski boundary ropes past a warning sign that read (first in English, then in French below):

"BACK COUNTRY ACCESS

THIS AREA IS NOT PATROLLED

DO YOU HAVE:

MAP, COMPASS, GPS, CELL PHONE, LAYERS, FOOD, WATER?

CAN YOU DEAL WITH

BROKEN EQUIPMENT OR SUDDEN INJURY?

DO YOU TRUST YOUR PARTNERS?

IS IT BEFORE 1:00PM?

IF NOT TURN AROUND.

JPSP"

The trail climbed gently uphill for a moment before a long, steep downhill stretch to the next col. The trail was slippery and wet most of the way, but we were able to catch a small view towards Doll Peak. Once we were on the descent, the ski area boundary ropes disappeared and the woods because delightfully silent. The col was super wet and then we rose gentle to the Laura Woodward Shelter.

[10:43am - Long Trail (north)/Laura Woodward Shelter]

We took a sit at the shelter for another snack. There were a few hikers at the shelter spening the night - we didn't talk to them, but they were talking to each other and it sounded like they simply had no plan and were just winging it? Fascinating! We sat until we were chilly again, and then it was time to climb up to Doll Peak!

[10:56am - Long Trail (north)]

Back on the Long Trail, we passed the spur for a water source and then had a nice easy to moderate climb afterwards. We caught a few peek-a-views back to Jay Peak through the trees, but they were minimal at best. We COULD see that the summit was now cloud-free - curses! We weren't actually that upset, we'd both been on the mountain countless times so we're well aware what the view is like. It sure would have been nice, though!

At a certain point the trail became steeper and bordered on being a butt-kicker. We passed three polite-but-feral children? The trail leveled out near the top and we passed the moms of those kids who told them they can blast off as long as they stick together - we gave them a good report!

[11:39am - Long Trail (north)/Doll Peak]

Sadly, there was no summit sign on Doll Peak, but there was a tree with two bolts that sure looked like it used to have one. We crossed paths with another guy up here, took a couple photos, and then walked along the nice summit ridge before starting our next descent.

Emma and I had some nice void time descending Doll Peak, which had the tiniest peek-a-view at the beginning of the descent (a theme for the day - there were minimal views the whole hike). We saw the clouded unnamed peak that we would be climbing next. The trail was still wet and slippery, but the woods were pretty beautiful! The wooded stretches of trail were delightful and the more open stretches were a little grown in. 

From the muddy low point, we started our climb up, which was moderate just about the whole way. There were a few car wash stretches, but the breeze made everything worth tolerating! We caught the haziest view on our way up through the clouds to the valley below and then started traversing over some mud pits, which were mostly avoidable. We were both smelly, enjoying the lack of humans, and soon we made it to the unnamed peak!

[12:08pm - Long Trail (north)/Unnamed Peak]

We did catch a nice peekaview out towards... something from the unnamed peak! I feel like 20-30 years ago this stretch of trail was full of views, but over time nature had done it's thing. 

From the top of this lump we had a pretty dreadfully steep, slippery, and eroded descent. In fairness, the descent started along nice rock stairs, but that did not last long. We complained quite a bit about how frustrating it was for the aliens to build the trail this way! We scratched through another car wash section as the trail slightly improved. I did manage to jump off a rock, shouting "PARKOUR" immediately as I crossed paths with a family...

In this wet, rugged, but less-steep section I took a fall and my butt touched the ground and Emma got a bug bite on her nose like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - we were doing great!

Near a low point we started seeing red-orange blazes, likely marking property lines. I wish it was easier to figure out what exactly they are! The guidebook mentioned that next we would traverse over three humps - just before the first one we had to maneuver over a spectacularly deep mud pit. A person passed us here, and then we pulled off to pee. My business went off swimmingly, but poor Emma, who was donning her front-to-back zipper pants, was disrupted by a hiker just a few minutes after, which was spectacularly hysterical. I noticed he had an Appalachian Trail hiker tag - I joked to Emma (once she emotionally recovered) "I wonder if he knows he missed the turn?"

The first hump was absolutely delightful - we rambled on over it and it was filled with ferns and yellowing leaves. We descended and continued rambling over a stream followed by an medium-easy climb to the top of hump #2, where we took a break for a five minute snack.

From hump #2, we had a pretty steep descent. We passed the woman who passed us in the mud pit (not the AT thru-hiker) and we joked about seeing her again soon. She was sitting at a spot that looked like it once had a view (like many other spots along this stretch of trail). She said the sound of us talking (aka yapping) made the trail feel less lonely - she was so nice!

The steep descent led to a beautifully flat stretch, and from there we began to hear the distant sounds of VT-105. We haven't seen civilization in so long! Thankfully, we still had a few miles to go. We had a short, moderate climb up to hump #3 and then continued to have a delightful ramble. We noticed some nice fungi, strange white berries (not edible), and more property blazes.

We descended through a scratchy birch forest and then the trail got steep steep again. Thankfully, it was now sunny with a cool breeze that truly felt amazing! The trail eventaully flattened out again, which led to the Shooting Star Shelter!

[1:54pm - Long Trail (north)/Shooting Star Shelter]

We passed the water spur first just before the shelter, which was built in 1934 and rebuilt in 2001. It was in a neat, small-but-open area with a slab right behind it. We did a quick water break before continuing up the slab behind the shelter, which gave us a mini view of... trees, and then went right back into the woods, which were open and mossy.

[2:17pm - Long Trail (north)/Burnt Mountain]

We had a slow and steady climb up Burnt Mountain, and the woods were just stunning the whole time. We were delighted to pass a summit sign! We turned left onto yet another grown-in viewpoint for a longer break. We both had some BBQ Chicken Pasta Salad from Maplefields and our summit bevvies - Emma had an IPA and I had the Stowe Cider of the dirty mayor (a ginger cider), and it was kind of gross! The pasta salad was the real winner! It was absolutely beautiful out. After sitting for a while, a guy came up behind us and asked "it is another view of nothing?" to which we nodded and he continued along. 

[2:51pm - Long Trail (north)]

After our long break, we continued on the Long Trail towards VT-105. We had an easy descent and easy rise to the next know, and then yet another delightful ramble down the spine of the mountain. We enjoyed the thoughtlessness of this stretch, along with the flowers and mushrooms we passed. We noticed a bunch of property blazes, and the sound of VT-105 (aka "North Jay Pass") soon grew louder until it was time to cross the road!

[3:25pm - Long Trail (north)/VT-105]

This road crossing, while super pretty, was probably my least favorite part of the hike. We had been in the woods for so long in the best way, and crossing a busy (at least for far-northern Vermont) road brought us right back to reality! We followed the road, made the easy crossing, and we caught a nice view back to what we think is North Jay. On the other side, we turned right to follow the road again on a footpath, crossed a power cut, and returned into the woods.

We noticed a property marker (we think) in the woods as we started our moderate ascent up Carleton Mountain - our final peak of the day! We were moving SLOW, but overall spirits were good! There was a breeze that kept us moving, thank goodness. We worked our way up to a nice ridge that was covered in birch and maple trees before climbing more steadily past an extremely obstructed tree view towards Jay Peak. We crossed what is probably a snowmobile trail (white diamont with teal ribbon blaze?), and made it to the top!

[4:13pm - Long Trail (north)/Carleton Mountain]

We were delighted to see the "Carleton Mtn. Elev. 2670' GMC" sign, and even more excited to see the "Lookout ->" sign - and it looked like the sign wasn't THAT old! We followed the spur path to... nothing. Nothing! Again! We followed a herd path left which led to... just another summit sign? Definitely an older one. We were so bummed. If we really looked around, we could see Jay Peak, but it was near impossible to actually see.

Heading back to the Long Trail, two guys were following the path and they asked "how's the view?" and I'm pretty confident Emma and I simply grunted at them.

From Carleton Mountain, we followed the plateau for a minute and then began to descend, steeply at times. It was cool thinking that everything ahead of this point was Canada! The trail mellowed out and became more grown-in further down, and it looked like the sky was all around us - almost as if we were hiking off of the Earth. It was really cool!

[4:44pm - Long Trail (north)/45th Parallel]

We hit the "Latitude 45° Midway Between Equator + N Pole" GMC sign, and we were both a bit confused. A wikipedia search later detailed: "The actual boundary of Vermont lies approximately 1 kilometre (3,300 ft) north of the parallel due to an error in the 1772 survey." 

We were both back to feeling energized and the feeling of being "out there" really settled back in, which was a delight! I slipped on a wet slab but recovered, and in making fun of me, Emma took a full and spectacular tumble at the exact same spot! The descent continued on for longer than we were mentally prepped for, but the prehistoric giant ferns we were hiking along made up for it.

[5:09pm - US/Canadian Border]

We hiked for a bit longer until we saw an "in memory of SParky LT '98" sign and then the official terminus of the Long Trail! It was marked my a massive sign:

"THE LONG TRAIL - NORTHERN TERMINUS

A SCENIC TRAIL THAT STARTS-ENDS HERE. FOLLOWING THE CREST OF THE GREEN MOUNTAINS 270 MILES FROM THE CANADIAN BORER TO THE MASS. STATE LINE. WHITE BLAZES MARK THE L.T., BLUE BLAZES MARK THE CONNECTING TRAILS.

THE LONG TRAIL WAS CONVEIVED AND BUILT BY THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB FROM 1910-1931. IT IS MAINTAINED BY THE GMC, STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES. SHELTERS ARE PROVIDED FOR HIKERS AT REGULAR INTERVALS. FOR INFORMATION CONTACT:

THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CLUB

4711 WATERBURY-STOWE ROAD

WATERBURY CENTER, VT 05677

WWW. GREENMOUNTAINCLUB.COM"

Just past was the border swath, which was such a cool spot. We had a relatively open view towards Canada with a big 'ol monument marking the boundary. The swath here was non-navigable (unlike the one at Fourth Connecticut Lake), but the view clearing was lovely. The same lady as before was already at the viewpoint - she must have passed us during our break on Burnt Mountain. She's been piecing together the Long Trail bit by bit. She's from Keene, NH, and we talked about different hikes along the trail for a while - she was such a delight!

She carried on - she's planning on staying at Journey's End Camp, so we'll probably see her one more time before the hike is over. The sun and breeze felt just wonderful up here. There were also dozens of caterpillars on one bush in particular. Once it was just Emma and I, we couldn't stop thinking about all the ridiculous things that poor woman just have heard us say!

We had our final snacks, drank our "summit" Celsiuses (Celsii?), and started the final leg of our hike down the aptly named Journey's End Trail.

[5:37pm - Journey's End Trail]

It was visually satisfying to be following blue blazes for the first time since our brief spur trip to the Jay Camp. The trail descended nicely through the woods on a relatively gentle footpath - it felt like a calm, falling-action after a climax of a book. The sun was starting to set and cast a nice glow on the trees while we were still higher up.

[5:56pm - Journey's End Camp]

We then made it to the surprisingly spooky Journey's End Camp, which had all their windows shuttered (they could be opened). It was spooky! Naturally we ran into our friend from Keene again, and she asked if we had any water we weren't going to drink left over since we were almost done - Emma was able to give her about a liter! We said our final goodbyes and continued on towards the end. 

After the camp, the trail felt more like an old road, and had the piles of old rocks that were likely cleared to make the road alongside it. We crossed a very dry stream as the trail began to widen some more, and then we came to the trail register!

[6:18pm - End of Trail]

We had a short and easy walk (slightly uphill) to Emma's car from the trail's end, and then our journey was officially over!

[6:24pm - End of Hike]

Well, it was partially over. Emma won fart baseball 3-0, we both quickly changed into clean clothes and then we SPED over to the Jay Village Inn for giant margaritas and dinner, and they delivered (per usual!). In reflection, this was essentially a collection of three individual hikes: Jay Peak (VT-242 to Andre's Paradise), the West Bowl (the end of the ski area to VT-105), and then Journey's End (VT-105 to Journey's End Road). Each segment had it's own character, and even though the hike lacked views, it was still an absolutely wonderful way to spend a day!

Step-by-Step

- Drop car at Journey's End trailhead, drive to VT-242 (Jay Pass)

- Start hike on Long Trail northbound from VT-242 (Jay Pass).

- At jct., turn left onto Jay Loop.

- At terminus, turn left onto Long Trail northbound.

- From summit of Jay Peak, follow Long Trail to it's northern terminus at the US/Canada Border.

- From terminus, turn right onto Journey's End Trail.

Map of Jay State Forest Land (no trails)

Photo Album