Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests · Vermont, New York

Backbone

6.9 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 608 · trail class 4 · typical grade 0-5% · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, horse, bike

Trailhead Backbone Trailhead Drive there

Backbone Trailhead the Forest Service's write-up

The Backbone Trail begins at the Backbone Horse Campground. The trail traverses the Forest through shrub-lands, pastures, old roads, and many old homestead sites. It intersects the Interloken and Burnt Hill Trails to the south and the No-Tan-Takto trail to the north. It is a relatively flat, primitive trail with natural tread, gravel in wet places, and traverses through fenced pastures.

Please close gates behind you.

From the north, the Backbone Trail can be accessed at the corner of Ball Diamond Road and Wardner Corner Road, at the Foster Pond parking lot, or at several other locations. Follow the signs and blaze marks.

Additional Resources

Backbone Trail Map

This trailhead on fs.usda.gov

Every trail in Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National Forests

Other trails from the Backbone Trailhead

All 215 trails in Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National ForestsFind a trailForest on fs.usda.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.