Island Line Trail
A rail trail appears to run across Lake Champlain, with stone causeway and bike ferry shaping the visit
Artwork inspired by Bread and Puppet print tradition
A rail trail appears to run across Lake Champlain, with stone causeway and bike ferry shaping the visit Burlington’s greenway continues north through causeway stone, open water, beaches, neighborhoods, and a seasonal bike ferry across the Cut. The causeway’s drama comes from infrastructure: nineteenth-century rail engineering became a car-free corridor whose missing bridge is now solved by a small ferry.
Ride from Burlington or start nearer Colchester, verify ferry dates, and carry wind layers, water, repair gear, and a return plan. The causeway is exposed with little shade, ferry operation is seasonal and weather-dependent, and turnaround distance grows quickly after a crossing. A calm day produces one of Vermont’s clearest meetings of mobility and landscape.
- Length
- About 14 miles
- Feature
- Colchester Causeway
- Connection
- Seasonal bike ferry
Quick guide
- Check the ferry
- The Cut cannot be crossed when service is closed.
- Pack for wind
- Open lake exposure changes effort and temperature.
Know before you go
- Check the ferry
- The Cut cannot be crossed when service is closed.
- Pack for wind
- Open lake exposure changes effort and temperature.
- Watch causeway edges
- The corridor is narrow and shared.
- Plan both directions
- A ferry crossing is only the midpoint.
Good to know
The causeway is exposed with little shade, ferry operation is seasonal and weather-dependent, and turnaround distance grows quickly after a crossing.
Notice these
- stone causeway
- bike ferry
- Lake Champlain horizon