Green Mountain Club

Maintaining & Protecting Vermont's Long Trail Since 1910

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Ilana Copel

Ilana (she/her/hers) came to Vermont in 2009 to study natural resource ecology at UVM’s Rubenstein School and has been here ever since. Her adventures outside the Northeast include a semester traveling through Queensland, Australia, studying public management and ecological research programs, and four months as a Student Conservation Association Interpretive Ranger intern in Canyonlands National Park. Though she grew up hiking, Ilana discovered trail work on a VYCC Wilderness Crew in 2010. Working for a month with VYCC at Griffith Lake and meeting the GMC Caretaker there inspired her to through-hike the Long Trail in 2011. That hike, in turn, inspired Ilana to become a GMC Caretaker for the summer of 2012. Over the years she has served as a Caretaker, Lead Caretaker, and Field Assistant, and since 2017 has served as Field Supervisor. When she’s not on a hiking trail, she can likely be found on a chairlift, in a swimming hole, or at a concert.

Big News for Strategic Conservation of the Long Trail System

May 1, 2025

This article appears in the 2025 Spring Long Trail News and was written by GMC Director of Conservation Mollie Flanigan. In previous editions I've described the process of developing the Green Mountain Club Strategic Conservation Plan that outlines our road map to permanently protecting the Long … Read more

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Mission

The Green Mountain Club is the founder and maintainer of the Long Trail - the oldest long distance hiking trail in America. Established in 1910 to build this trail stretching the length of Vermont, the club now also maintains the Appalachian Trail in Vermont and trails in the Northeast Kingdom in its mission to "make the Vermont mountains play a larger part in the life of the people." Read more...

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Connect

4711 Waterbury-Stowe Road
Waterbury Center, Vermont 05677
802.244.7037 | Email GMC

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