The Island Line Trail, also known as the Colchester Causeway, is a 13.4-mile rail trail located in northwest Vermont. It comprises the Burlington Bike Path (Burlington), Colchester Park (Colchester) and the Allen Point Access Area (South Hero). The trail follows the route of the Island Line railroad, built by the Rutland Railroad in 1901.
Vermont’s Island Line Trail is a popular destination for casual strolls, running, and cycling along the edge of the Lake Champlain shoreline providing vast views of the lake with New York’s Adirondack Mountains in the background.
The mostly paved trail connects parks, nature preserves, and beaches to residential neighborhoods and Downtown Burlington, and continues into the Champlain Islands. The path starts south of Oakledge Park and runs north to the Winooski River, bends along a breakwater, and after a quick ferry ride, leads you to the tip of South Hero.
The recreational trail was once part of the Rutland Railroad, a railroad system that at its peak extended approximately 400 miles dating back to 1843. Initially constructed to connect Rutland and Burlington, grew in 1901 after the completion of several trestles and causeways across Lake Champlain to connect to New York and Canada.
In the late 1930s, the railroad company started showing signs of decline by cutting costs that included wage reduction and rail closures. The Rutland would struggle for 20 years and face several employee strikes including a three-week strike in 1953 which ended the line’s historic passenger service. The railroad was completely shut-down in early 1961 and formally abandoned in 1963.
Starting off in Oakledge Park, located in the South End of Burlington, features two beaches (Blanchard Beach and the Cove), a playground complete with tennis, bocce, and volleyball courts, the Forever Young Treehouse, picnic tables, and bathrooms.
Head down Flynn Avenue to snap a picture of the World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet. Titled “File Under File Under So. Co., Waiting for…” was built in 2002 by Bren Alvarez, a local artist. The stack of cabinets is 38 drawers high.
If looking for snacks, treats, tasty food, and delicious beer, this neighborhood is delightful. Nomad Coffee is a lovely cafe right next to the filing cabinet. Then across the street is City Market, a community-owned food cooperative offering a massive selection of Vermont-made products.
Flynn Avenue is also its own fermentation district with Burlington Beer Company, Switchback Brewing, and Citizen Press House facilities right next to one another. Zero Gravity and Queen City Brewing are in the vicinity if you continue around the corner to Pine Street, where there is Green State Dispensary and Lake Champlain Chocolates.
Back to the trail, just north of Oakledge Park is the Burlington Earth Clock, a 43-foot diameter granite circle consisting of fourteen five-to-ten-foot-high stones in a ring, aligned like a compass. If you were to stand in the center circle and act as a gnomon, your shadow will tell the time of day. And while in the center, if you look west, the five stones along that side mark the positions where the sun sets at the Solstices, Equinoxes, and the mid-points between these times of the year.
Continuing north, you will enter the west side of the Retail District of Burlington with the waterfront, piers, and marinas to your left. Local Motion is right off King Street next to the Union Station train stop. Enjoy some views of the lake while sipping a beer from the Foam Brewing beer garden across from Waterfront Park. Just up ahead is Lakeview Cemetery where you can find the graves of many Vermont politicians, several mayors of Burlington, and military figures including General Stannard who was a Union general in the American Civil War.
There are several viewpoints, benches, and spots to rest along the way to North Beach and Leddy Park. Mayes Landing is a lovely place where the Winooski River meets Lake Champlain. The trail brings you over the Winooski River Bridge through Delta Park and into a residential area where the path is the street, taking you to Airport Park. The 64.5-acre recreational gem features baseball diamonds, basketball, volleyball, and tennis courts, a soccer field, picnic areas, restroom facilities, and a 100-seat pavilion.
Leaving Airport Park, the trail in this area is known as the Colchester Bike Path and cuts through a natural bog area before getting to the Colchester Causeway. The trail follows a three-mile breakwater that crosses Lake Champlain. While the causeway is quite scenic, there is minimal shade and mostly exposed to the elements, expect unpredictable weather. There is a 200-foot gap called The Cut which allows boats to pass through. A local bike shop, Local Motion, operates a bike ferry in warmer months making the jump to carry on to the Champlain Islands for the last mile of the Island Line Trail. It’s free, but donations are encouraged.
After the ferry ride, which only takes several minutes, you will enter the Allen Point Access Area along South Hero with Grand Isle, North Hero, and other islands further north. From here you could traverse all the way to Québec if so inclined.
