STOWE, Vermont ??” On Friday June 3rd, Stowe Mountain Resort’s Auto Toll Road will reopen for the 2006 summer and fall seasons. The 150 year old attraction established Stowe as a resort area back in the 1800’s, when horse drawn carriages traveled the Toll Road to the once elegant Summit House atop Mt. Mansfield. Today, the Toll Road provides passenger cars and trucks access to some of the most breathtaking scenery in New England.

The 4.5-mile unpaved road begins next to Stowe’s Inn at the Mountain and climbs to the location of the old Summit House, elevation 3,850 feet. The road ends at a parking lot next to the Mt. Mansfield Summit Station. The Toll Road is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm, June 3 through October 15. Tolls are $19* per car with $4* per person over six people (*not including VT sales tax). Bikes and motorcycles are NOT allowed. The road’s upper terminus presents spectacular hiking options. To the north, the Cliff Trail, Long Trail, and Canyon Trail – all about 1.5 miles long and climbing about 550 feet – offer three routes to Mansfield’s “Chin.” Southerly trail options include the Lakeview Trail, Forehead Bypass, and Long Trail to the Forehead.

The first automobile climbed Stowe’s Toll Road in 1923. Also an alpine ski trail in the winter, the Toll Road is the East’s longest run. With a gentle 10 degrees maximum pitch, the ski trail’s vertical decent is over 2,500 vertical feet and spans 4.5 miles across an easterly ridge on Mt. Mansfield between Ranch Valley and Smugglers’ Notch.

Attention: The Toll Road will now be closed on Monday, June 5th. The Toll Road will be open to the public on both Saturday, June 3rd and Sunday, June 4th, but hours will now be Noon to 5pm for those days. The Toll Road will re-open with regular hours of 10am to 5pm beginning on Tuesday, June 6th.