Vermont has plenty of great trails for exploring its wilderness, which is often just outside the door for the state’s lucky residents. As the second-least populated state, it says a lot about Vermont that its biggest city is Burlington, a college town with a population of less than 50,000 on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain. The lake provides both great flatwater paddling opportunities and a scenic backdrop for the entire region.

The name "Vermont" comes from a combination of the French words for Green and Mountain, and not surprisingly it is the Green Mountains that form the state’s elevated backbone. Long-distance hikers can travel The Appalachian Trail through the southern reaches of the Green Mountain National Forest to near Rutland where it swings east toward New Hampshire, but backpackers can also continue on Vermont’s own famous Long Trail which runs north all the way through the center of the state around Middlebury and Montpelier - Barre before crossing the Northeast Kingdom and finally reaching Quebec.

The Green Mountains are also known for their skiing, generally considered the best in the eastern United States. Famous resorts like Killington, Stowe, Mount Snow, and Stratton Mountain bring skiers from all over New England and the northeast to test their skills. But these grand peaks make great summer destinations as well, with great hiking trails, world-class mountain biking (like on Mount Mansfield, Vermont’s highest point), and good campgrounds all around, at places like Smuggler’s Notch and Quechee Gorge State Parks.

Stretching down Vermont’s eastern border through cities like Saint Johnsbury, White River Junction, and Brattleboro is the majestic Connecticut River Valley. The entire Connecticut River corridor makes a great place to see the picturesque Vermont landscape, which is quintessential New England with small towns, white church steeples, and fall colors in their autumnal glory. A road biking tour is one of the best ways to see it all, perhaps crossing the Cornish - Windsor Covered Bridge, the longest wooden bridge in the United states.