Presidential Range (Green Mountains)

The Presidential Range is a mountain range in the Green Mountains of the U.S. state of Vermont. All of the summits of the peaks in the range are located in Addison County but the eastern slopes in the northern part of the range extend into Washington County. The major peaks in the range are named for several U.S. presidents from the period of the American Civil War through World War I.<ref name="Bushnell 2019" />

All of the peaks in the Presidential Range are above Template:Convert and all but one are above Template:Convert. The highest peak in the range is Mount Abraham at Template:Convert, while the second highest peak is Mount Wilson at Template:Convert. Both peaks are among the one hundred highest peaks in New England.

Description

From north to south (which corresponds to the chronological order of the corresponding presidencies), the Presidential Range includes:

• Mount Abraham, Template:Convert, named after Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President, 1861–1865
• Mount Grant, Template:Convert, named after Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. President, 1869–1877
• Mount Cleveland, Template:Convert, named after Grover Cleveland, U.S. President, 1885–1889 and 1893–1897
• Mount Roosevelt, Template:Convert, named after Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. President, 1901–1909
• Mount Wilson, Template:Convert, named after Woodrow Wilson, U.S. President, 1913–1921

The three northernmost summits are in the town of Lincoln while the other two are in Ripton (all in Addison County). Except for Mount Abraham, the major peaks of the range are in the Breadloaf Wilderness in the Green Mountain National Forest.<ref name="USFS" /> Mount Abraham is separated from the other peaks by Lincoln Gap, the highest vehicle-accessible mountain pass in Vermont.<ref name="Obscure Vermont" />

Drainage basin

Most of Presidential Range lies within the watershed of Lake Champlain, which drains into the Richelieu River in Québec, the Saint Lawrence River, and then eventually into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Portions of Mount Roosevelt and Mount Wilson lie within the watershed of the Connecticut River, which drains into Long Island Sound in Connecticut.

Trails

The Long Trail, a Template:Convert hiking trail running the length of Vermont, traverses the major peaks of the Presidential Range. The trail enters the southern edge of the Breadloaf Wilderness at Middlebury Gap on Vermont Route 125 and winds northward Template:Convert along the ridge of the Green Mountains to Appalachian Gap on Vermont Route 17:<ref name="GMC Long Trail Guide" />

Distance northbound		Feature	Approximate altitude		Distance southbound
miles	km		feet	m	miles	km
Template:Convert	Appalachian Gap	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Stark Mountain	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Mount Ellen	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Nancy Hanks Peak	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Lincoln Peak	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Mount Abraham	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Battell Shelter	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Junction: Battell Trail	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Lincoln Gap	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Mount Grant	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Cooley Glen Shelter Junction: Cooley Glen Trail	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Mount Cleveland	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Mount Roosevelt	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Junction: Clark Brook Trail	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Mount Wilson	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Emily Proctor Shelter Junction: Emily Proctor Trail	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Bread Loaf Mountain	Template:Convert	Template:Convert
Template:Convert	Middlebury Gap	Template:Convert	Template:Convert

Apart from the Presidential Range, there are five peaks above Template:Convert on this section of the Long Trail. North of Mount Abraham, there are four such peaks: Lincoln Peak, Nancy Hanks Peak, Mount Ellen, and Stark Mountain. South of Mount Wilson, the only such peak is Bread Loaf Mountain.

Thru hikers traverse Template:Convert of trail between Mount Wilson and Mount Abraham. Along the way, four side trails provide access to the Long Trail (Emily Proctor Trail, Clark Brook Trail, Cooley Glen Trail, and Battell Trail) with limited off-road parking at each trailhead. There are three shelters on this section of the Long Trail: Emily Proctor Shelter, Cooley Glen Shelter, and Battell Shelter. Each shelter is at the intersection of the Long Trail and the corresponding side trail.

A popular day hike begins and ends where the Long Trail crosses Lincoln Gap Road in the town of Lincoln. From Lincoln Gap, the summit of Mount Abraham is Template:Convert north on the Long Trail. Alternatively, the Battell Trail, whose trailhead is also in Lincoln, terminates at the Battell Shelter after Template:Convert. From the shelter, the summit is Template:Convert north on the Long Trail.<ref name="GMC Long Trail map" />

The Emily Proctor Trail and the Cooley Glen Trail share the same trailhead. A popular loop hike begins and ends at this trailhead. The Template:Convert loop hike takes in three peaks of the Presidential Range: Mount Wilson, Mount Roosevelt, and Mount Cleveland. A fourth president, Mount Grant, is just off the main loop, Template:Convert north of the Cooley Glen Shelter on the Long Trail.<ref name="GMC Day Hiker" />