South Hero, VT - Island Line Trail (8/12 - 8/18/25)

Here I am driving my amphibious RV across Lake Champlain! Just kidding, this was just a front row seat on the ferry from NY to VT. Not the cheapest way to get to the other side, but we thought it would be more fun (and a little quicker). We arrived in South Hero, VT to ride another HoF Rail Trail named the Island Line Trail. While we were here we stayed at the Apple Island Resort.

Boarding a ferry with a 67' length of vehicles is a little stressful, but we had a guide direct us to exactly where they wanted us to park.

This isn't our first ferry ride with the RV towing a car, but this ferry was smaller than the one we rode in Galveston.

The Island Line Trail is almost 14 miles long and goes from South Hero to Burlington. On the northern side, the trail runs over a causeway for about 4 miles with spectacular views on both sides.

Lake Champlain forms the border of VT and NY. The trail is in VT and NY is off in the distance.

Another unique feature of this trail was the need to connect two sides via a bike ferry. The boat ride is only a few hundred feet, but is needed because the bridge was removed to allow larger boats across the lake.

The trail is crushed stone on this part, but was in great condition. We rode the whole trail twice while we were here.

This trail also connects the northern islands (North/South Hero, Grand Isle) with Burlington and was very busy every day we rode. The ferry is technically free, but does have a suggested donation of about $5 per ride. Every ferry ride we took had a line of bikers waiting on the other side to ride back.

You don't get many trails with views this great, but this one has great views on both sides.

At the Apple Island Resort, we had a great view of the lake from one of the large pull-in sites.

One of our favorite rest stops along the trail was the Shanty on the Shore restaurant with patio seating and harbor views right in downtown Burlington.

Next stop, we explore the epic Acadia National Park from Bar Harbor, Maine. Check out my next blog post to see what we did while we were there...