Appalachian Gap Lincoln overlook
— — where the valley falls away west.
Not only on a wall.
“A two-lane pass over the Green Mountains on Route 17, climbing out of Lincoln and crossing into Fayston. The west overlook opens on the Champlain Valley with the Adirondacks across the lake, far. Cyclists climb it in summer. In October the sugar maples on the Lincoln side go first. The shoulder is narrow. People pull in, get out, look.
Appalachian Gap Lincoln overlook, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Appalachian Gap is a mountain pass on Vermont Route 17 crossing the spine of the Green Mountains at roughly 2,365 feet, between Buels Gore on the east and the town of Lincoln on the west. The road tops out in the gap itself and drops on either side with grades approaching ten percent. The west overlook sits about a half mile below the summit on the Lincoln side, opening on the Champlain Valley with the Adirondacks across the lake on a clear day. The Long Trail, Vermont's spine-of-the-Greens footpath, crosses Route 17 at the gap.
The gap is a notch in the ridge, which means weather from the west funnels through it. Afternoons in summer pile cumulus along the spine; afternoons in October bring cold front clearings that scrub the haze out of the valley. The overlook faces roughly west, so the late light catches the maples on the Lincoln side first. On still mornings the valley fills with fog and the gap is the line above it. Long Trail hikers cross here from Mount Ellen, the nearest 4,000-foot peak south.
Route 17 is the through road between Waitsfield, Vermont, and Bristol on the Champlain side, about forty-five minutes from Burlington. The pavement is plowed in all seasons, but the steep climb closes during heavy snow events. The west overlook has a small paved pull-off, room for perhaps six cars; no facilities. Cyclists climbing from Bristol have made this a destination grade: three miles at an average of about eight percent. The best foliage window runs the first ten days of October. The Long Trail trailhead is at the summit.